Iran confirms IAEA report on weapons-grade uranium production

Iran on Wednesday confirmed a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that concluded that the country had expanded its production of weapons-grade uranium.

“As emphasised several times, this is our response to the non-implementation of the Vienna nuclear agreement and the illegal U.S. sanctions,’’ said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeid Khatibzadeh on Wednesday.

Khatibzadeh added that Iran’s actions do not break the terms of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and said the uranium being produced would be used exclusively for peaceful purposes.

As soon as the nuclear agreement is implemented in accordance with the treaty and, in particular, U.S. sanctions were lifted, Iran would in turn resume its technical obligations under the agreement, he said.

According to the IAEA report published on Tuesday, Iran has commissioned a second production unit at its enrichment plant in Natanz to produce uranium with a purity level of 60 per cent.

Nuclear weapons would require uranium with 90-per-cent purity.

Under the terms of Iran’s 2015 nuclear agreement with China, France, Russia, Britain, the U.S. and Germany, uranium enrichment had to remain below 4 per cent.

In recent months, only one production unit for highly enriched uranium has been in operation. According to Tehran, this uranium would be used for medical purposes.

Indirect talks between Iran and the United States to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal began in April, but several rounds of meetings have failed to achieve a breakthrough.