BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 24. Iran can increase uranium enrichment from 60 percent to 90 percent in half a day at several enrichment sites, Iranian parliament member Javad Karimi Ghoddousi said, Trend reports.
According to him, he was informed about it by technical engineers in Iran.
Karimi Ghoddousi noted that this important issue is not a secret; even the IAEA has information about it. Technically, it is very simple. Based on this, the production of 90 percent enriched uranium, which is the main fuel of an atomic bomb warhead, will be possible in a maximum of 1 week.
"The second problem is that if it is a nuclear warhead, it must have a missile capable of traveling over 10,000 kilometers. The possibility of increasing the missiles' range to several thousand kilometers was reported to Iran's Supreme Leader, Seyyed Ali Khamenei, by army commanders. However, he did not allow it. So, if the Supreme Leader of Iran gives permission, this issue will be realized at some point," he noted.
The official emphasized that it is unacceptable for Iran to produce and use nuclear weapons. However, Iran's supreme leader stated that threats against Iran are responded to with the same measure. Meaning, if there is a nuclear threat against Iran, Iran will respond with nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the media in recent days that, after the failure of nuclear talks, Iran has come remarkably close to creating an atomic bomb. No country without an atomic bomb has enriched uranium by 60 percent. Iran has enriched more uranium than is needed to build an atomic bomb. 90 percent enriched uranium is needed to build an atomic bomb. But technically, uranium enriched at 60 percent is roughly identical to uranium enriched at 90 percent.
To note, the Comprehensive Plan of Joint Action on Iran's nuclear program was implemented between Iran and the P5+1 group (the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany) in January 2016. The US announced in May 2018 that it was withdrawing from the plan and imposed sanctions on Iran in November of the same year. Iran has announced that there will be no restrictions on the Iran nuclear deal in 2020.
In late 2020, the Iranian parliament adopted a strategic plan to counter the sanctions, citing the non-fulfillment of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed between Iran and six countries and the imposition of sanctions on Iran.
According to the decision of the Iranian parliament, as of February 23, Iran had stopped the implementation of additional measures and an additional protocol included in the nuclear deal. As a consequence, the monitoring mechanism of the IAEA was reduced by 20–30 percent.
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