Iran has amassed more than 120 kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium, Iran Atomic Energy Organization Chief Mohammad Eslami said Saturday, according to state news agency IRNA.
“We have passed 120 kilograms. We have more than that figure,” IRNA quoted Eslami as saying.
“Our people know well that they [Western powers] were meant to give us the enriched fuel at 20 percent to use in the Tehran reactor, but they haven’t done so. If our colleagues do not do it, we would naturally have problems with the lack of fuel for the Tehran reactor.”
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If true, the numbers could be considered a major jump forward in Iran’s uranium enrichment efforts, taking Tehran closer to the threshold of a nuclear bomb, if it decides to go down that path.
Last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Iran had 84.3 kilograms of uranium enriched to 20 percent.
Iranian missiles are seen at an underground of the new ”missile cite” of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards naval unit at an undisclosed location in Iran, in this picture obtained on March 15, 2021. (credit: IRGC/WANA/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)
According to the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), 155 kilograms of 20% enriched uranium would be enough to eventually be scaled up to weaponized uranium for a nuclear bomb, meaning that 120 kilograms would be almost 80% of the way there.
At the same time, a recent JINSA report said that “Iran is actively reducing the growth of its stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium – which represents nine-tenths of the effort to achieve fissile material.”
“Since starting in January, Iran cumulatively has enriched an estimated 152 kg uranium to 20 percent at a rate of 19 kg/month,” the report said.
In addition, JINSA said that these statistics show “that Iran’s claim, in June, to have produced 108 kg at an average rate of 40 kg/month over the preceding three weeks was provocatively overstated.”
Putting all the pieces together, JINSA explained that “to limit its stockpile, Iran has been converting some of it to uranium metal, which, while worrisome because this process is one of the steps to a nuclear weapon, means this material can no longer be used to enrich fissile material.”
Before Iran’s announcement on Saturday night, JINSA had said that assuming Iran continues producing and diverting 20 percent uranium at its current rate, it would achieve enough uranium for a nuclear weapon by June-July 2022.
Last month, the Institute for Science and International Security estimated that Iran could produce enough enriched uranium for a single nuclear warhead within approximately one month.
The complex calculations on how fast the Islamic Republic can produce a nuclear weapon involve a mix and match of uranium it has enriched to three different levels: 5%, 20% and 60% – with 90% being the level required for weaponization.
Tehran has sent mixed messages in recent weeks about whether it will return to nuclear talks with the US and world powers in order to return to the JCPOA’s nuclear deal limits in exchange for Washington lifting sanctions or whether it is stalling for some other purpose.
In the meantime, since mid-September, the IAEA has heavily criticized Iran for blocking its access and disabling some of its monitoring equipment.
Iran has blamed the standoff over monitoring on an explosion in June at its Karaj nuclear facility that the ayatollahs have attributed to the Mossad.
