Iran Says Production Of 60% Enriched Uranium 'underway'

Tehran, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Apr, 2021 ) :Iran said Friday it has begun producing uranium at 60 percent purity, in another breach of its commitments to the international community which is concerned about its nuclear programme.

The Islamic republic had declared it would sharply ramp up its enrichment of uranium on Tuesday, two days after an attack on its Natanz nuclear facility that it blamed on arch-foe Israel.

The announcement cast a shadow over talks in Vienna aimed at salvaging the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that then US president Donald Trump abandoned almost three years ago.

Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, on Friday confirmed the country was now producing uranium enriched to 60 percent purity.

"The enrichment of uranium to 60 percent is underway at the Martyr Ahmadi Roshan nuclear facility" in Natanz, he said, quoted by Tasnim news agency.

"We are now getting nine grams (almost a third of an ounce) per hour," Salehi said later on state television.

While production was underway, scientists at Natanz were still working on how to install the two centrifuge lines Iran said would be dedicated to 60 percent enrichment operations, Salehi said.

He added that could see Iran's production of 60 percent enriched uranium fall to six grams an hour, but added that it would continue to make 20 percent enriched uranium on the same two lines.

The move to enrich uranium to 60 percent purity takes Iran closer to the 90 percent level required for use in a nuclear weapon.

The Islamic republic has gradually rolled back its nuclear commitments since 2019, a year after the US withdrew from the accord and began imposing sanctions.

The 2015 deal known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, gave Iran relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.