Iran is stockpiling weapons-grade uranium, which United Nations inspectors have found, defying international demands to rein in its nuclear program.
Iran now has enough uranium at 60% purity, just below the 90% purity needed for weapons, to produce about four nuclear bombs, an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report said.
The report found that Iran had about 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% as of October 26, up 40 kilograms from August.
About 92 kilograms of uranium, enriched to 90%, is needed to make an atomic weapon.
Iran’s overall stockpile of enriched uranium at any level stood at about 14,560 kilograms, an increase of 1,880 kilograms from August.
It comes as Iran has offered to stop enriching uranium beyond 60% – but only if the European Union and the United Kingdom stop their efforts to slap new sanctions on Iran and the IAEA drops the censure resolution they are pursuing.
Iran, led by Ayatollah Khamenei, has enriched uranium almost to the point of weapons, a UN watchdog found, defying international demands to rein in its nuclear program. (Getty Images)
During the meeting between the director general of the IAEA Rafael Grossi and high-level Iranian diplomats, “the possibility of Iran not further developing its stock of enriched uranium up to 60% U-235 was discussed, including the necessary technical verification measures for the Agency to confirm this. , if implemented, Grossi said.
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He added that Iran had said it would consider accepting agency inspectors to monitor nuclear materials.
Experts say there is no credible use of 60% uranium at the civilian level.
Concerns have grown among Western nations that Iran may decide to pursue a nuclear bomb as its best deterrent, after Israel released Hamas and Hezbollah, Iran’s biggest proxies. US intelligence suggests they have increased their manufacturing capabilities to do so in the past year.
It’s not clear whether President-elect Trump will take an aggressive or diplomatic tone toward Iran, but he has pledged to resist sanctions against the regime that President Biden claims have failed to enforce.
The European Union on Monday expanded sanctions against Iran for allegedly supporting Russia in its war in Ukraine, including targeting the national shipping company and ships used to transfer drones and missiles. Acting together, the UK freezes the assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line.
This satellite photo from PBC’s Planet Labs shows damaged buildings at Iran’s Parchin military base outside Tehran, October 27, 2024. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
A replica of Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant on display at the International Conference on Nuclear Science and Technology in Isfahan on May 6, 2024. (Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denied Iran was helping Russia and warned the sanctions would prompt Iran to retaliate.
“There is no legal, logical or moral basis for such behavior. If anything, it will only force what it wants to prevent,” Araghchi wrote in X.
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“Freedom of navigation is a basic principle of the law of the sea. When selectively applied by some, such shortsightedness usually tends to boomerang,” wrote Araghchi.
The IAEA council is expected to move forward with a European-backed censure resolution, which could lead to the matter being forwarded to the UN Security Council for possible measures against Tehran.
The resolution will condemn Tehran’s lack of responsiveness and call for a full report on all open questions about Iran’s nuclear work.
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Iran has not officially decided whether to build a nuclear bomb, according to the latest US intelligence available. But by September 2024, Iran could produce weapons-grade uranium in about seven days and enough for six to nine nuclear bombs in a month if desired, according to David Albright at the Institute for Science and International Security.
