Iran will begin enriching uranium with thousands of advanced centrifuges at its two main nuclear facilities at Fordo and Natanz, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said on Friday, further raising tensions over Tehran’s program while it enriches to levels approaching those of weapons manufacturing.
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s notice only mentions that Iran is enriching uranium with new centrifuges to a purity of 5%, well below the current 60% – likely indicating that he still wants to negotiate with the West and the new administration of the elected president. Donald Trump.
However, it is unclear how Trump will approach Iran once he takes office, especially as that country continues to threaten to attack Israel amid its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and just after the start of a ceasefire in his campaign in Lebanon. Trump pulled America out of the deal in 2018.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment on the IAEA report. Tehran had threatened to quickly advance its agenda after the IAEA Board of Governors condemned Iran at a meeting in November for failing to fully cooperate with the agency.
In a statement, the IAEA outlined plans that Iran has informed it about, which include injecting uranium into some 45 cascades of its advanced IR-2M, IR-4 and IR-6 centrifuges.
Cascades are a group of centrifuges that spin uranium gas to enrich the uranium more quickly. Each of these advanced classes of centrifuges enriches uranium faster than Iran’s basic IR-1 centrifuges, which have been the workhorse of the country’s atomic program. The IAEA did not specify how many machines would be in each cascade, but Iran has already placed about 160 centrifuges in a single cascade.
It is unclear whether Iran has already started putting uranium into the centrifuges. So far, Tehran has remained vague about its plans. But starting enrichment at 5% gives Tehran both leverage in negotiations with the West and another way to increase pressure if it doesn’t like what it hears. Weapons-grade enrichment levels are around 90%.
Since the collapse of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, following the United States’ unilateral withdrawal from the deal in 2018, the country has continued nuclear enrichment to just below weapons-grade levels. U.S. and other intelligence agencies believe Iran has not yet launched a weapons program.
The US State Department said in a statement to The Associated Press that it was “deeply concerned by Iran’s announcement that it is choosing the path of continued escalation rather than cooperation with Iran.” ‘IAEA’.
“Iran’s continued production and accumulation of uranium enriched up to 60% has no credible civilian justification,” the statement added.
Iran, as a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, has committed to allowing the IAEA to visit its nuclear sites to ensure its program is peaceful. Tehran also agreed to additional monitoring from the IAEA as part of the 2015 nuclear deal, which provided for the lifting of sanctions in exchange for drastic limitations on its program.
However, for years Iran has restricted inspectors’ access to sites, while not fully answering questions about other sites where nuclear materials were discovered in the past after the deal collapsed. .
In recent months, Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian, have signaled a willingness to negotiate with the West. But Iran also launched two attacks against Israel in the midst of the war.
Kazem Gharibabadi, an Iranian diplomat, said in a post on the social platform that he had met with European diplomat Enrique Mora, criticizing Europe as being “self-centered” while exhibiting “irresponsible behavior.”
“Regarding the Iranian nuclear issue, Europe has failed to become a serious player due to a lack of self-confidence and responsibility,” Gharibabadi wrote.
For his part, Mora described having a “frank discussion” with Gharibabadi and another Iranian diplomat. These discussions focused on “Iran’s military support for Russia which must end, the nuclear issue which requires a diplomatic solution, regional tensions (important to avoid further escalation on all sides) and human rights” , he wrote on X.
