NEW YORK, February 2. /TASS/. Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in an interview with the New York Times said that Iran had significantly decreased its production rates of highly enriched uranium.
According to Grossi, the sudden surge in production appears to have abated. However, according to the IAEA chief, Iran continues to add to its supply of uranium enriched to 60% purity which can rapidly be further enriched to the level needed to produce nuclear weapons. "There is a bit of a slowing down. They are still adding to the stockpile but more slowly," Grossi said.
According to the newspaper, Tehran is taking these steps in order to renew talks with the US on the nuclear deal.
On December 26, 2023, Reuters, citing the IAEA report, said that Iran had increased its uranium enrichment rate to 60%, from three to nine kilograms per month. According to the IAEA, the country began increasing enrichment rates in late November.
According to another IAEA report issued in November, also cited by Reuters, the country has enough uranium enriched to 60% to produce three nuclear bombs with further enrichment. According to the IAEA classification, uranium must be enriched to 90% to produce nuclear weapons, and about 42 kilograms of material is "theoretically sufficient" for one nuclear bomb.
In 2015, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany (the 5+1 format) reached a nuclear deal with Iran in order to address the crisis around its nuclear program. In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump decided to pull out of the agreement, with Washington slapping its most sweeping sanctions ever on Tehran. Incumbent US President Joe Biden has repeatedly indicated his support for reentering the nuclear deal.