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Iran significantly speeding up uranium enrichment to near bomb grade, IAEA says

Iran is drastically. accelerating its enrichment of uranium to as much as 60% pureness,. near the roughly 90% level that is weapons grade, U.N. nuclear guard dog chief Rafael Grossi informed Reuters on Friday.

The International Atomic Energy Firm later validated in a. private report to member states that Iran was accelerating. uranium enrichment, a process that refines the raw material so. that it can be utilized as fuel in civil nuclear power generation. or, potentially, nuclear weapons.

The IAEA findings will deepen alarm in Western nations. that say there is no reason for enhancing uranium to such. a high level under any civilian program and that no other. nation has done so without producing nukes.

Iran rejects pursuing nuclear weapons.

Tehran currently has enough material enriched to as much as 60%. pureness to be able to make 4 nuclear weapons if it enhances it. even more, according to an IAEA yardstick.

Today the firm is announcing that the production capacity. is increasing drastically of the 60% stock, IAEA chief. Grossi stated on the sidelines of the Manama Dialogue security. conference in Bahrain.

He stated Iran's production capability was set to rise to. 7, 8 times more, maybe, or even more than the existing. level of 5-7 kg of uranium enriched to as much as 60% purity a month.

In the report to member states, which was seen ,. the IAEA stated Iran had increased the enrichment rate of the. material being fed into two interconnected cascades of advanced. IR-6 centrifuges at its Fordow plant.

The plant had currently been enhancing uranium to approximately 60%. purity with material enriched to up to 5% purity. The product. being fed in now has actually been enriched to approximately 20% pureness,. speeding up the process of reaching 60%.

That modification indicates Iran will substantially increase the. quantity of uranium it enhances to 60% purity, reaching more than. 34 kg a month at Fordow alone, the report said.

Iran is also enriching uranium to up to 60% at another site,. Natanz.

The report said Iran should as a matter of seriousness help with. tougher safeguards procedures, such as assessments, to guarantee. Fordow is not being misused to produce uranium of an enrichment. level greater than that stated by Iran, and that there is no. diversion of stated nuclear material.

European and Iranian authorities recently made little. development in conferences on whether they could go into major talks. on the nuclear program before Donald Trump returns to the. White House in January.

' DANGEROUS AND RECKLESS'

Tehran was outraged by a resolution last month put forward by. Britain, Germany and France, referred to as the E3, and the United. States that faulted Iran's cooperation with the IAEA.

This is a severe escalatory action by Iran, which we. strongly condemn, a German foreign ministry source stated of Iran. accelerating uranium enrichment to 60% pureness. It is apparent. that such measures substantially aggravate the framework for. diplomatic efforts.

Kelsey Davenport, director of non-proliferation policy at. the Arms Control Association advocacy group in Washington, stated. Iran's acceleration at Fordow was an unsafe and careless. escalation that risks thwarting the potential customers for settlements. with the United States.

Increasing the capability to move faster to numerous. bombs' worth of weapons-grade uranium increases the danger of. mistake and military action, she said.

After pulling the United States out of the 2015 nuclear deal. between Tehran and world powers, Trump pursued a optimum. pressure policy that looked for to wreck Iran's economy. He is. staffing his organized administration with hawks on Iran.

Grossi stated last month Tehran had actually accepted a demand to. cap its stock of uranium enriched to up to 60% to ease. diplomatic stress.

Diplomats said at the time that Tehran's action was. conditional on the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors not. passing a resolution against Iran over inadequate cooperation. with the firm, which the Board then did.

We do not have any diplomatic procedure ongoing which could. result in a de-escalation, or a more steady formula when it comes. to Iran, Grossi said. This is regrettable.

The E3 have stated they want restore talks before the 2015 offer. expires in October 2025. The deal raised sanctions versus Iran. in return for constraints on Iran's atomic activities. Because. Trump left the offer, Iran has abandoned those restrictions.

(source: Reuters)