Iran to increase uranium enrichment to 5%

Iran would begin increasing its uranium stockpile limit to five per cent, according to spokesman for Atomoc Energy Agency.

کد خبر: ۹۳۶۰۵۲

تاریخ: ۱۹ آبان ۱۳۹۸ - ۰۸:۴۶

The deal four years ago had set a 3.67 per cent limit for uranium enrichment that was dismissed by Tehran after Washington unilaterally abandoned the agreement last year and reimposed sanctions.

"Based on our needs and what we have been ordered, we are currently producing five per cent," said Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran.

He also said that Iran has the "capacity to produce five per cent, 20 per cent, 60 per cent, or any percentage" of enriched uranium.

The current five per cent-level exceeds the limit set by the accord but is less than the 20 per cent Iran had previously operated and far less than the 90 per cent level required for a warhead.

Tehran says it would reverse the measures it has taken if the remaining member nations of the 2015 nuclear accord, including the United Kingdom, China, France, Germany and Russia, find a way to get around US sanctions.

On July 1, Iran said it had increased its stockpile of enriched uranium to beyond a 300-kilogramme limit set by the deal, and a week later, it announced it had exceeded the enrichment cap.

The third move had it firing up advanced centrifuges on September 7 to enrich uranium faster and to higher levels.