Tehran: Iran has reversed a months-long slowdown in the rate at which it is enriching uranium to up to 60 per cent purity, close to weapons grade, the UN nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday.
Many diplomats believed the slowdown, which had begun by June, was the result of secret talks between the United States and Iran that led to the release of US citizens held in Iran earlier this year.
Iran already has enough uranium enriched to up to 60pc, if enriched further, to make three nuclear bombs, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) theoretical definition, and more at lower enrichment levels. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons.
Iran has “increased its production of highly enriched uranium, reversing a previous output reduction from mid-2023”, the IAEA said in a statement.
Since the slowdown, those plants have been enriching uranium to up to 60pc at a rate of about three kilogrammes a month, the IAEA said.
“The agency confirms that, since the end of November 2023, the rate at which Iran has been producing uranium enriched up to 60pc U-235 at these two facilities combined has increased to approximately 9kg per month,” the report to member states said.
IAEA inspectors first observed a change in production at Fordow on November 25, after which Iran said the change was made on Nov 22, and that the rate of production was returning to the pre-slowdown level there, the report said.