Iran calls 84% uranium enrichment allegation `conspiracy'

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES >> Iranian state television Friday offered an extended defense against an accusation attributed to international inspectors that it enriched uranium to 84% purity, with an official calling it part of a “conspiracy” against Tehran amid tensions over its nuclear program.

The comments by Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for Iran's civilian nuclear program, sought to portray any detection of uranium particles enriched to that level as a momentary side effect of trying to reach a finished product of 60% purity — which Tehran already has announced it is producing.

However, uranium at 84% is nearly at weapons-grade levels of 90% — meaning any stockpile of that material could be quickly used to produce an atomic bomb if Iran chooses. Tehran has long insisted its program is for peaceful purposes, although the International Atomic Energy Agency, Western intelligence agencies and nonproliferation experts say Iran pursued a secret nuclear weapons program up until 2003.

The allegation that IAEA inspectors found 84% enriched uranium threatens to further escalate tensions between Iran and the West. Already, Israel's recently reinstalled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened military actions against Tehran. Meanwhile, Iran faced continued unrest Friday amid months of protests.

Bloomberg first reported Sunday that inspectors had detected uranium particles enriched up to 84%. The IAEA, a United Nations nuclear agency based in Vienna, has not denied the report, saying only “that the IAEA is discussing with Iran the results of recent agency verification activities.”

In an interview with Iranian state television's English-language arm, Press TV, highlighted Friday, Kamalvandi dismissed what inspectors may have found as “a particle of an atom that cannot be seen even under a microscope.” He described Iran's uranium centrifuge cascades as producing particles at varying purity that later form a final product of 60% enriched uranium.

“It doesn't matter because the end product is what matters,” Kamalvandi said. “If we really want to enrich 20% more, we will announce it very easily. So it is clear that there is a conspiracy here.”

Iran's 2015 nuclear deal limited Tehran's uranium enrichment to 3.67% — enough to fuel a nuclear power plant. The United States unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018. Since then, a shadow war between Israel and Iran has erupted across the wider Middle East.

Iran produces uranium enriched to 60% purity — a level for which nonproliferation experts already say Tehran has no civilian use. Any accusation of enrichment higher than that further ratchets up tension over the program, something Iran has appeared to acknowledge through a series of comments this week about the allegation attributed to the international inspectors.

However, many questions remain over the allegations attributed to IAEA inspectors and Iran's explanation.

“There are variances in enrichment levels but usually not the the degree Iran is claiming,” said Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association.