Iran has told the UN nuclear watchdog it intends to enrich uranium to up to 20% purity, a level it achieved before its 2015 deal with major powers and higher than the 4.5% it has recently been enriching up to, Russia’s ambassador to the agency said on Friday, according to Reuters.
“IAEA DG reported to the (IAEA) Board of Governors ... about intention of Tehran to start enrichment op to 20%,” Russian Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency Mikhail Ulyanov said on Twitter on Friday, referring to Rafael Grossi, Director Genreal of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
A Vienna-based diplomat confirmed there had been an IAEA report to member states saying that, but declined to elaborate. The IAEA was not immediately available for comment.
Iran has gradually scaled back its compliance with the 2015 deal in response to US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement in May of 2018.
The IAEA recently released a report which found that Iran has fired up advanced uranium-enriching centrifuges that it had installed at its Natanz site in violation of the 2015 agreement.
In a previous report, the UN agency that the Islamic Republic’s stockpile of enriched uranium now stands at more than ten times the limit set down in the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
Grossi said in an interview in October that Iran does not at this stage have enough enriched uranium to make one nuclear bomb under the UN atomic watchdog’s official definition.
