TEHRAN: Iran has the capacity to enrich uranium up to 60 percent, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said on Saturday, far more than is required for most civilian uses but short of the 90 percent needed to make nuclear bomb fuel.
"The organization has the possibility to produce 5 percent, 20 percent and 60 percent, and has this capacity," AEOI spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said during a news conference at the underground Fordow nuclear plant, the official IRIB news agency reported.
"At the moment, the need is for 5 percent," he added.
Iran's highest political authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said last month that the country had never pursued the building or use of nuclear weapons, which its religion forbids.
Iran said on Thursday it had resumed uranium enrichment at Fordow, stepping further away from its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers after the United States pulled out of it.
The pact bans production of nuclear material at Fordow, a highly sensitive site that Iran hid from UN non-proliferation inspectors until its exposure in 2009.
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will visit Fordow on Sunday, Kamalvandi said.
Since May, Iran has begun to exceed limits on its nuclear capacity set by the pact in retaliation for US pressure on Tehran to negotiate restrictions on its ballistic missile program and support for proxy forces around the Middle East.
Iran says its measures are reversible if European signatories to the accord manage to restore its access to foreign trade promised under the nuclear deal but blocked by the reimposition of US sanctions.
Iran able to enrich uranium up to 60%, says atomic energy agency spokesman
Iran able to enrich uranium up to 60%, says atomic energy agency spokesman
- Since May, Iran has begun to exceed limits on its nuclear capacity set by the pact in retaliation for US pressure on Tehran to negotiate restrictions on its ballistic missile program
- Iran's highest political authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said last month that the country had never pursued the building or use of nuclear weapons
Iraq welcomes the appointment of Iran’s new supreme leader
- Armed faction Kataeb Hezbollah said it reflects a profound understanding “of the existential challenges confronting the nation”
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani welcomed on Monday the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s new supreme leader after his predecessor and father was killed in US and Israeli strikes.
“We express our confidence in the ability of the new leadership in the Islamic Republic of Iran to manage this critical stage,” and to further strengthen “the unity of the Iranian people” amid the current challenges, Sudani said in a statement.
He stressed that Iraq stands in solidarity with Iran and supports “all steps aimed at ending the conflict.”
Iran wields significant influence in Iraqi politics, and also backs armed groups whose power has grown both politically and financially.
Iraq has for decades been a proxy battleground between the US and Iran.
Pro-Tehran Iraqi groups were among the first to welcome the new supreme leader.
The powerful Badr organization said the new leadership represents a “blessed continuity of the path of the Islamic revolution.”
The Asaib Ahl Al-Haq faction said choosing Mojtaba Khamenei shows continuity and “reinforcement of the Islamic republic’s role as a central pillar in the axis of resistance.”
Armed faction Kataeb Hezbollah said it reflects a profound understanding “of the existential challenges confronting the nation.”
“The best successor to the best predecessor,” said Kataeb Hezbollah, which is part of the Islamic Resistance of Iraq — a pro-Iran alliance that has been claiming attacks on US bases since the start of the war in the Middle East.
Senior Iraqi politician and moderate cleric Ammar Al-Hakim wished the new supreme leader “success in following the path of his martyred father... in upholding the word of truth.”
