DUBAI, Iran (AP) — Iran has begun enriching uranium to 60 percent purity at its underground nuclear plant in Fordow, the country’s nuclear leader said Tuesday, a move that could anger Western powers pressuring Tehran to cancel its nuclear paints by reviving a 2015 pact.
Iran already enriches uranium to 60% purity elsewhere, well below the 90% or so needed for weapons-grade fabrics, but above the 20% it produced before the 2015 agreement with major powers to limit enrichment to 3. 67%.
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“We said Iran would seriously respond to any solution and political pressure. . . that is why Iran will enrich uranium to 60% purity from Monday at the Fordow site,” Mohammad Eslami said, according to Iranian media.
The 35-nation board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Thursday approved a solution ordering Iran to urgently cooperate with the agency’s investigation into uranium lines discovered at 3 undeclared sites. Effect on your “constructive relationships” with the agency.
In a letter to the IAEA, the semi-official ISNA news company reported, Iran had informed the company of Tehran’s resolve to use “advanced IR-6 centrifuges to produce 60 percent enriched uranium” at Fordow, a place buried in a mountain.
The 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers allows Iran to use first-generation IR-1 centrifuges, but, when the deal fell through after then-President Donald Trump abandoned it in 2018, Tehran installed cascades of more effective complex centrifuges, such as the IR-2m, IR-4 and IR-6.
In June, Reuters reported that Tehran was further expanding its uranium enrichment by preparing to use IR-6 centrifuges, which can be seamlessly transferred between enrichment levels, at the Fordow site.
The semi-official Fars news firm said Tehran had also initiated the procedure of “replacing first-generation centrifuges (IR-1) with complex IR-6 centrifuges” at the Fordow site, while installing new cascades, or clusters, of complex centrifuges. at its underground nuclear sites at Natanz.
“Iran has also begun the fuel injection procedure in two cascades of complex IR-2m and IR-4 centrifuges at the Natanz site,” state TV reported.
The IAEA solution is the moment this year that targets Iran for the investigation, which has an impediment to talks on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal because Iran demanded an end to the investigation.
Proximity talks between Tehran and US President Joe Biden’s management to revive the 2015 deal have stalled since September, and more flexibility is not easy.
Iran’s crackdown on anti-government protests sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death in custody and the sale of drones to Russia have prevented the United States from reviving a nuclear deal, U. S. special envoy for Iran Robert Malley said Monday.
Iran denies promoting drones to Russia for use in war against Ukraine
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