4 yıl önce

IAEA: Iran enriched uranium 12 times over limit set in 2015 deal

Tehran continues to increase its stockpile of low-enriched uranium far beyond the limits set in a landmark nuclear deal with world powers and to enrich it to greater purity than permitted, UN’s atomic watchdog agency says.

Reuters

Satellite image shows Iran's Natanz nuclear facility in Isfahan, Iran, on October 21, 2020.

Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium is now more than 12 times the limit set down in a 2015 deal with world powers, the UN's nuclear agency has reported.

An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report said that as of November 2 "Iran's total enriched uranium stockpile... was 2442.9 kg."

The nuclear deal signed in 2015 with the United States, Germany, France, Britain, China, and Russia, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, allows Iran only to keep a stockpile of 202.8 kilogrammes (447 pounds).

The IAEA reported that Iran has also been continuing to enrich uranium to a purity of up to 4.5 percent, higher than the 3.67 percent allowed under the deal.

New #IAEA report shows #Iran regime's enriched uranium stockpile is now 12 times limit in 2015 deal, installed advanced centrifuges in Natanz uranium enrichment & response over undeclared site 'not credible'. 👇Watch our Oct 16th revelation of new site.https://t.co/y9B17ZXEpP
— Alireza Jafarzadeh (@A_Jafarzadeh) November 11, 2020

US withdrawal follows deal violations

Violations of the nuclear pact have followed the decision by the US to pull out unilaterally in 2018.

The deal promises Iran economic incentives in exchange for the curbs on its nuclear programme.

Since the US withdrawal and imposition of new sanctions, Tehran has been putting pressure on the remaining parties with the violations to come up with new ways to offset the economy-crippling actions by Washington.

The Iranian government has continued, however, to allow IAEA inspectors full access to its nuclear facilities.

The goal of the agreement is to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon, something the country insists it does not intend to do.