Iran has begun enriching uranium to 60 per cent purity at its underground Fordow nuclear site, the government’s nuclear chief said on Tuesday, a move that may irk Western powers pushing Tehran to roll back its nuclear work by reviving a 2015 pact.
Iran is already enriching uranium to up to 60 per cent purity elsewhere, well below the roughly 90 per cent needed for weapons-grade material but above the 20 per cent it produced before the agreement with major powers to cap enrichment at 3.67 per cent.
“We had said that Iran will seriously react to any resolution and political pressure … that is why Iran has started enriching uranium to 60 per cent purity from Monday at the Fordow site,” said Mohammad Eslami, according to Iranian media.
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) 35-nation Board of Governors on Thursday passed a resolution ordering Iran to co-operate urgently with the IAEA investigation into uranium traces found at three undeclared sites. Iran had said the move could impact its “constructive relations” with the agency, the nuclear watchdog of the United Nations.
The semi-official ISNA news agency reported Iran had informed the agency in a letter about the decision to use “IR-6 advanced centrifuges to produce 60 per cent enriched uranium” at Fordow, a site buried inside a mountain.
The 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six world powers lets Iran use only first-generation IR-1 centrifuges but, as the deal unravelled after then-President Donald Trump ditched it in 2018, Tehran has installed cascades of more efficient advanced centrifuges, such as the IR-2m, IR-4 and IR-6. It has also resumed enrichment at Fordow, which was barred under the deal.
U.S. officials said they were aware of reports Iran was enriching to 60 per cent at Fordow but declined to confirm them, repeating their preference to use diplomacy to curb Iran’s nuclear program but saying all options – code for possible military action – were available to U.S. President Joe Biden.
In June, Reuters reported that Tehran was enhancing its uranium enrichment further by preparing to use IR-6 centrifuges, which can easily switch between enrichment levels, at the Fordow site.
The semi-official Fars news agency said Tehran had also started the process of “replacing the first-generation centrifuges (IR-1) with advanced IR-6 ones” at the Fordow site, while installing new cascades, or clusters, of advanced centrifuges at its underground Natanz nuclear sites.
“Iran has also started the process of injecting gas into two cascades of IR-2m and IR-4 advanced centrifuges at the Natanz site,” state TV reported.
The IAEA resolution is the second this year targeting Iran over the investigation, which has become an obstacle to talks on reviving the 2015 deal because Iran demands an end to the probe.
Indirect talks between Tehran and the United States to revive the accord have been at a stalemate since September, with both sides demanding more flexibility.
Iran’s crackdown on anti-government protests following the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in custody and the sale of drones to Russia have turned Washington’s focus away from reviving a nuclear deal. Iran denies selling drones to Russia for use in the Ukraine war.