Watchdog reports sharp rise in uranium stockpile

Iran has nearly tripled its stockpile of enriched uranium since November, in violation of its deal with world powers, the United Nations atomic watchdog agency said yesterday, while raising new questions about possible nuclearrelated activities and undeclared nuclear material at three locations.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) made the statement in a confidential report distributed to member countries that was seen by the Associated Press. It said that as of February 19, Iran’s total stockpile of lowenriched uranium amounted to 1020.9 kilograms, compared to 372.3kg on November 3, 2019, as noted in its November report.

The current stockpile puts Iran within reach of the amount needed to produce a nuclear weapon, which it insists it doesn’t want to do.

The nuclear deal that Iran signed in 2015 with the United States, Germany, France, Britain,

China and Russia, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), allows Iran to keep a stockpile of only 202.8kg.

The JCPOA promised Iran economic incentives in return for the curbs on its nuclear programme, but since President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the deal unilaterally in 2018, Iran has been slowly violating the deal’s restrictions. It hopes to put pressure on the other nations involved to increase economic incentives to make up for hardhitting sanctions imposed by Washington.

In a second report, the IAEA said it had identified three locations in Iran where the country possibly stored undeclared nuclear material or undertook nuclear-related activities without declaring it to international observers. The activities at all three sites were thought to have been from the early 2000s.

According to the Washingtonbased Arms Control Association, Iran would need roughly 1050kg of low-enriched uranium – under 5 per cent purity – and would then need to enrich it further to weapons grade, or more than 90 per cent purity, for a weapon.

The current stockpile puts Iran within reach of the amount needed to produce a nuclear weapon.