This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
Iran has accelerated enrichment of nearly weapons-grade uranium, the UN atomic watchdog has said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report to member states on August 17 that Iran was enriching uranium to 60 percent purity using a second cascade of centrifuges at its Natanz nuclear facility.
In May, the Vienna-based IAEA said Iran was using only one cascade to enrich to up to 60 percent purity.
Ninety percent is considered weapons-grade, although other technical steps are needed to create a deliverable nuclear bomb.
Iran announced in Aprilthat it planned to start enriching uranium at up to 60 percent purity from 20 percent in response an attack on the Natanz nuclear site that it blamed on Israel.
The move was one of a series of steps Iran took in violation of the 2015 nuclear accord after former President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the deal and reimposed sanctions.
Under the Iran nuclear accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Tehran was limited to refining uranium to 3.67 percent.
The IAEA also said on August 16 that Iran produced 200 grams of uranium metal enriched up to 20 percent.
Uranium metal can be used to build the core of a nuclear bomb.
Iran announced in January that it intended to research uranium-metal production, saying it was needed for a research reactor. The nuclear deal also banned Iran from producing uranium metal.
“Iran has no credible need to produce uranium metal, which has direct relevance to nuclear weapons development,” U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement late on August 16.
Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and any breaches of the JCPOA can be reversed if the United States returns to the accord and drops crushing sanctions.
“If the other parties return to their obligations under the nuclear accord and Washington fully and verifiably lifts its unilateral and illegal sanctions…all of Iran’s mitigation and countermeasures will be reversible,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh was quoted as saying by state media.
President Joe Biden says he wants to return to the deal, but indirect talks in Vienna brokered by the Europeans to get both Washington and Tehran back into compliance with the accord have stalled.
The EU said earlier this month that new Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was ready to resume talks and meetings could take place in Vienna in September.
