The United States has condemned the increased production of enriched uranium in Iran.
Together with international allies France, Germany and the United Kingdom, the U.S. addressed in a statement a recent report from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which warned that the Middle Eastern nation has been generating 9 kilograms of 60 percent enriched uranium a month since November, an increase from just about 3 kilograms a month in June.
“Iran must fully cooperate with the IAEA to enable it to provide assurances that its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful,” the joint statement said.
Nuclear power stations need uranium enriched to 3.67 percent to generate electricity. To create an atomic bomb, uranium should be enriched to 90 percent.
Iran had committed to limit its nuclear activities in exchange for lifting trade sanctions when it signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2015, but the agreement fell through after the U.S. pulled out in 2018. President Joe Biden has been trying to revive the JCPOA, even as Iran continues disregarding conditions in the action plan.
IAEA, the United Nation’s nuclear watchdog, reported that the Iranian government disconnected surveillance cameras inside its nuclear sites and prevented personnel from conducting inspections.
