BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 27. Iran has reversed a months-long slowdown in the rate at which it is enriching uranium to up to 60 percent purity, according to the report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),Trend reports citing Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's representative in international organizations located in Vienna.
Ulyanov made the remark in a statement on X (Twitter).
"If the US and 3 European countries (Germany, the UK and France) had not blocked the restoration of the JCPOA last year, the enrichment level in Iran would not exceed 3.67 percent now.," he said.
On December 26, some media outlets, citing the IAEA, reported that Iran has been enriching uranium faster and to a higher level since late November 2023. They said that Iran has produced about 9 kg of 60 percent-enriched uranium per month, which is enough for making 3 nuclear bombs. The amount of uranium needed for one bomb is 42 kg. Iran’s 60 percent enrichment is still going on.
Iran’s nuclear program was the subject of the JCPOA, a deal signed by Iran and the P5+1 group (US, Russia, China, UK, France, and Germany) on January 16, 2016. However, on May 8, 2018, the US withdrew from the JCPOA and imposed new sanctions on Iran as of November 2018.
Iran claims that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, but the IAEA has reported that Iran has increased its highly enriched uranium by 27 percent in the last three months and now has 4,745 kilograms of enriched uranium. This is 15 times more than the amount allowed for Iran in the JCPOA.
Iran has been trying to resume talks with the other parties on its nuclear issue and revive the JCPOA. The main goals of Iran are to end the sanctions imposed by the US and Western countries, access funds frozen abroad, and resume its crude oil exports.