UK, France, Germany: No ‘credible civilian’ basis for Iran’s growing uranium stash

Britain, France and Germany on Tuesday accused Iran of growing its stockpile of high enriched uranium to “unprecedented levels” without “any credible civilian justification.”

The three countries known as the E3 said in a statement that Iran must “reverse its nuclear escalation.”

Iran has increased its manufacturing of enriched uranium such that it is the only non-nuclear weapons state to possess uranium enriched to 60 percent, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear watchdog said.

That level is well on the way to the 90% required for an atomic bomb.

“Iran’s stockpile of High Enriched Uranium has also reached unprecedented levels, again without any credible civilian justification. It gives Iran the capability to rapidly produce sufficient fissile material for multiple nuclear weapons,” the trio said in the statement.

According to an IAEA report handed to member states and leaked to the press earlier this month, Iran has begun to dramatically expand its production of uranium enriched to near-weapons grade levels, collecting enough material for several bombs already.

This handout photo released by Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation shows its spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi (R) meeting with Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi upon his arrival in Tehran on November 13, 2024. (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran/AFP)

Earlier this week, the head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, said that there was little point in trying to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with Iran on the cusp of nuclear weapons.

He added that Iran had “developed much stronger capabilities” regarding various aspects of its nuclear program, and said that country’s uranium enrichment levels are “practically at the same level as nuclear-armed states.”

In a report in early December, the Office of the United States Director of National Intelligence warned that “Iran now has enough fissile material to make more than a dozen nuclear weapons,” but said it had not yet decided to break out to a bomb.

Iran is not thought to have begun work needed to build and deploy a nuclear weapon, a move which, if detected, would likely invite a harsh Western response.

But the sheer size of its stockpile and the fact that 60% purity is just a short technical step away from the 90% needed for a bomb have served to heighten tensions, with Israel rumored to be mulling military action aimed at destroying key nuclear sites.

Centrifuges line a hall at the Uranium Enrichment Facility in Natanz, Iran, in a still image from a video aired by the Islamic Republic Iran Broadcasting company on April 17, 2021, six days after the hall had been damaged in a mysterious attack. (IRIB via AP)

Iran has always denied seeking nuclear weapons and says both its space program and nuclear activities are for purely civilian purposes.

However, US intelligence agencies and the IAEA say Iran had an organized military nuclear program up until 2003, and continued to develop its nuclear program beyond civilian necessity. Israel contends that the Islamic Republic never truly abandoned its nuclear weapons program.

Iran is committed to Israel’s destruction. Over the past year, it has twice fired massive barrages of missiles at Israel. Israel has struck key Iranian military facilities in retaliation for both attacks, which came in the context of a multifront war opened by Iranian terror proxies on the Jewish state.