Iran claims it is producing half-kilo of 20% enriched uranium per day

i24NEWS

January 19, 2021, 05:03 AMlatest revision January 19, 2021, 05:05 AM

The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, said Monday that the country was producing almost 500 grams of uranium enriched to 20 percent purity per day, after beginning to do so earlier this month at its Fordow nuclear facility and in breach of the 2015 nuclear accord, according to The Times of Israel (TOI).

Salehi told the Khamenei.ir website, the official site of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that nuclear scientists “are producing 20 grams every hour, meaning that practically, we are producing half a kilo every day.”

The atomic chief claimed that if “other parties” were to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) then Tehran would similarly abide by the agreement.

He called for immediate removal of the severe US sanctions against the Islamic Republic, which the outgoing US President Donald Trump administration placed on it, following its withdrawal in 2018 from the so-called nuclear deal.

The US withdrew from the deal citing – in its opinion – Iran’s failure to abide by the agreement as well as its widespread ballistic missile program.

Uranium enriched to 20 percent is a short technical step away from weapons-grade 90 percent enrichment. The foreign ministers of the individual European signatories to the deal (which also includes the European Union) — Germany, France and Britain — warned Saturday that the Iranian activity “has no credible civil justification” and have called on Tehran to adhere to the accord, reported TOI.

They added that the production of uranium metal “has potentially grave military implications.”

For its part, Iran has maintained a facade of innocence, maintaining that it plans to conduct research and development and uranium metal production is part of its declared aim to improve the type of fuel.

Tehran’s latest moves seem designed to test the mettle of incoming President-elect Joe Biden’s administration. He personally has expressed a willingness to return to the deal and has made that seem a distinct possibility by filling important posts with some of the architects of the original deal.