IRAN’S NUKESIran Now Has Enough Enriched Uranium for “Several” Nuclear Bombs: IAEA
In 2015, the world powers reached an agreement with Iran which severely restricted its nuclear weapons-related activities. In 2018, then-President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the United States out of the accord without replacing it with any alternative mechanism to constrain Iran’s nuclear weapons-related activities. Trump’s decision allowed Iran to relaunch its nuclear weapons program, and the IAEA’s director-general has just warned that Tehran has enough enriched uranium for “several” nuclear bombs if it made the decision to build them.
The latest report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says Iran has increased the quantity in its possession of uranium enriched to close to weapons-grade levels.
The IAEA notes that Iran has rejected the agency’s request to allow the agency’s inspectors designated to monitor Iran’s nuclear program to do their work.
The agency’s confidential quarterly report said that as of 28 October, Iran has an estimated 128.3 kilograms (282.9 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60 percent purity, a considerable increase of the 6.7 kilograms since its September report.
AP notes that uranium enriched to 60 percent purity is only a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent.
The IAEA report assesses that as of 28 October, Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium at various levels of purity was at 4,486.8 kilograms, an increase of 691.3 kilograms over the size of the stockpile noted in the September 2023 report.
In 2015, the world powers reached an agreement with Iran which removed large quantities of enriched uranium from Iran; severely restricted Iran’s ability to enrich uranium by limiting the number of centrifuges Iran could operate; placed stringent limits - 3.67 percent — on the level of enrichment; limited the stockpile of low-enriched uranium to 300 kilograms; and subjected Iran to the most intrusive inspections of any country in the nuclear age.
In 2018, then-President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the United States out of the accord without replacing it with any alternative mechanism to constrain Iran’s nuclear weapons-related activities.
Trump’s move allowed Iran to relaunch its nuclear weapons-related activities.
The Biden administration has said it would be willing to negotiate another nuclear deal with Iran, but talks between Iran and the United States reached a impasse in August 2022.
Iran officially denies any interest in building nuclear weapons, but the IAEA’s director-general,Rafael Grossi, has warned Tehran has enough enriched uranium for “several” nuclear bombs if it made the decision to build them.
The IAEA, in a second confidential report distributed to the agency’s member states, said that Irn has so far not answered the agency’s request for explanation of the origin and current location of manmade uranium particles found at two locations, Varamin and Turquzabad, which Iran has failed to declare as nuclear sites.
The IAEA second report also notes that Iran has so far refused to allow more monitoring equipment, including cameras, re-installed. The equipment was removed by Iran in June 2022. In response to the IAEA’s request, Iran has prohibited several of the IAEA’s most experienced inspectors from monitoring the country’s nuclear program.
