TEHRAN – Iran said today it has begun producing uranium at 60% purity, in another breach of its commitments to the international community, which is concerned about its nuclear programme.
The Islamic republic had declared it would sharply ramp up its enrichment of uranium on Tuesday, two days after an attack on its Natanz nuclear facility that it blamed on arch-foe Israel.
The announcement cast a shadow over talks in Vienna aimed at salvaging the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that former United States president Donald Trump abandoned almost three years ago.
Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, today confirmed the country was now producing uranium enriched to 60% purity.
“The enrichment of uranium to 60% is underway at the Martyr Ahmadi Roshan nuclear facility” in Natanz, he said, quoted by the Tasnim news agency.
“We are now getting nine grammes per hour,” Salehi said later on state television.
While production was underway, scientists at Natanz were still working on how to install the two centrifuge lines Iran said would be dedicated to 60% enrichment operations, Salehi said.
He added that it could see Iran’s production of 60% enriched uranium fall to six grammes an hour, but added that it would continue to make 20% enriched uranium on the same two lines.
The move to enrich uranium to 60% purity takes Iran closer to the 90% level required for use in a nuclear weapon.
The Islamic republic has gradually rolled back its nuclear commitments since 2019, a year after the US withdrew from the accord and began imposing sanctions.
The 2015 deal known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, gave Iran relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear programme. – AFP, April 16, 2021
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