Iran begins to enrich uranium
IRAN announced yesterday that it had begun enriching uranium up to 20%, far outside the 3.67% limit set in the 2015 nuclear deal.
The enrichment started “a few hours ago” at the Fordo underground nuclear facility south of the capital Tehran, said government spokesperson Ali Rabiei.
According to Rabiei, the process is in line with a new nuclear law recently passed by parliament. This allows annual production of 120kg at the 20% level. It also allows the country’s atomic agency to produce 500kg of less-enriched uranium a month.
The law has proved controversial within Iran, where it is criticised as politically unwise or technically unrealistic. It is opposed by both President Hassan Rowhani and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.
Rabiei said that despite those misgivings, the Iranian government is constitutionally bound to implement a law passed by parliament.
Iran claims its nuclear programme is primarily for civilian power genera
tion, but world powers fear Tehran has ambitions to produce atomic weapons.
The 2015 agreement between Iran and other countries required it to limit production to low-enriched uranium, good for only civil purposes, in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.
But after President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the deal, Iran said it no longer felt bound by the agreement. Since then, it has incrementally violated the limitations set down several times.
Low-enriched uranium is used for nuclear power, whereas highly enriched uranium on the order of 90% can be used to produce atomic weapons.
Rabiei said the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been informed of Monday’s development.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was among the first world leaders to respond to the announcement, reiterating that “Israel will not allow Iran to produce nuclear weapons”.
“Iran’s decision to continue violating its commitments, to increase the level of enrichment and advance industrial capacity for enriching uranium underground, can be explained in no other way than the further realisation of its intention to develop a military nuclear program,” Netanyahu said.
There are various aspects to the new nuclear law.
Perhaps the most politically sensitive part is Iran’s withdrawal from the Additional Protocol of the IAEA, which allows for unannounced inspections of Iran’s nuclear sites by UN inspectors.