International atomic inspectors last week found that Iran has been stockpiling enriched uranium to levels just below what is needed for a nuclear weapon, according to a new report.
Unnamed high-level diplomats told Bloomberg that Iran has been stockpiling enriched uranium at 84% purity and a concentration at 6% lower than needed for a weapon, marking the highest levels found by inspectors in Iran until to date.
Iran’s domestically built centrifuges are displayed at an exhibition on the country’s nuclear achievements in Tehran, Iran, February 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Iran previously told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that its centrifuges were configured to enrich uranium to a purity level of 60%.
It is unclear whether the material was intentionally produced or was an unintentional buildup inside the centrifuges used to separate the isotopes.
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According to the IAEA, levels of only 60% are indistinguishable from those needed for a nuclear weapon, and most nuclear reactors use material enriched to 5% purity.
“The enrichment of uranium to 84 percent purity — whether intentional or accidental — simply shouldn’t happen,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, Senior Fellow of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) said in a statement to Fox News digital.
A view of the reactor building of the Russian-built nuclear power plant in Bushehr, Iran August 21, 2010. (IIPA via Getty Images)
“There is only one way to deal with this problem. [President Joe] Biden must work with E3 to lift sanctions and bring down the architecture surrounding E3 [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action]” said Taleblu. “This should be a wake-up call for the international community. Iranian nuclear escalation can and does happen without Western pressure. Indeed, Iran has been in the driver’s seat of the nuclear crisis for as long as Biden has been in office.”
Sunday’s report comes as the Iranian regime has been criticized for its brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters and its military support for Russia in its war against Ukraine.
Former President Donald Trump withdrew US support from the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and reimposed sanctions in 2018, calling the deal “flawed inside”.
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Under the 2015 nuclear deal reached by the United States under the Obama administration, world powers and Iran, sanctions against Tehran were lifted in exchange for Iran’s cooperation in limiting its nuclear program. Tehran has expanded its nuclear program following the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal.
