Iran reportedly grows uranium stock 18 times above 2015 nuclear deal limit

Mark Moore

Iran has reportedly grown its uranium stock to 18 times above the limit set by a 2015 agreement.

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog says that Iran has expanded its uranium stockpile 18 times over the limits set in the now-defunct 2015 agreement with the US and five other world powers, according to a report.

The International Atomic Energy Agency in its latest report on Tehran’s nuclear program “estimated that, as of May 15, 2022, Iran’s total enriched stockpile was 3,809.3 kilograms,” Agence France-Presse reported on Monday.

The 2015 agreement established the limit at 300 kg of a specific compound — the equivalent of 202.8 kg of uranium, the report said.

The IAEA report also said Iran is exceeding the 3.67% limit to which it is allowed to enrich uranium.

Tehran disputed the IAEA report on its undeclared nuclear material.
The 2015 agreement established the limit at 300kg of a specific compound. The 2015 agreement established the limit at 300 kg of a specific compound.AP
“Unfortunately, this report does not reflect the reality of the negotiations between Iran and the IAEA,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said.

“It’s not a fair and balanced report,” he said. “We expect this path to be corrected.”

The IAEA said it still has questions that were “not clarified” about nuclear material at three sites in Iran — Marivan, Varamin and Turquzabad.
The IAEA report also said Iran is exceeding the 3.67% limit to which it is allowed to enrich uranium. AP
The agency’s report also said Tehran blamed an “act of sabotage by a third party to contaminate the sites” but did not offer any evidence to prove the claims.

The Biden administration has been in talks with the other five nations still in the nuclear deal — China, France, Germany, Russia and the UK — as well as with Iran about reviving the agreement, from which former President Donald Trump withdrew the US in 2018.
Damage from a fire at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility near Tehran in July 2020.AP
But those discussions stalled in March after Russia sought guarantees that sanctions imposed by the US over its invasion of Ukraine wouldn’t hamper trade between Moscow and Tehran.