Politics

Iran producing uranium above agreed level but cooperates with IAEA

Vienna, Sep 4 (efe-epa).- Iran continues to produce enriched uranium above the levels agreed in the 2015 nuclear agreement but has improved its cooperation with inspectors, international officials said Friday.

The country has produced an additional 533 kg of enriched uranium since June but has granted access to a facility suspected of past undeclared atomic activities, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

This means Tehran has a reserve of 2,105 kg of this material, the majority in the form of uranium in UF6 gas, which is about four times the limit permitted by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an IAEA report released on Friday in Vienna states.

The JCPAO stipulates Iran should have no more than 300 kg of enriched uranium, equivalent to about 450 kg of UF6.

Of this accumulated material, around 215 kg has a purity below the agreed level of 3.67 percent, while the rest exceeds that limit and reaches 4.5 percent but still far below the 80 percent necessary for military uses.

The country began producing uranium of higher purity in violation of the JCPAO last year in response to the United States’ exit from the agreement in 2018 and in an attempt to pressure European members of the pact to guarantee the economic benefits of the deal.

The contract was signed in 2015 in Vienna and puts limitations on Iran’s nuclear program so the nation cannot develop a nuclear bomb in the short term.

In exchange, international sanctions were lifted which the US revoked two years ago, including an oil embargo.

After months of dispute over access to two Iranian facilities under suspicion, Tehran finally gave the green light to international inspections, the IAEA reported.

Nuclear inspectors have already conducted environmental tests at one of those facilities, which are being analyzed in the agency’s laboratories.

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