VIENNA: Iran has resumed enriching uranium at a similar rate as at the start of the year, the IAEA said Tuesday, as the country accelerates its nuclear program while denying it is developing a bomb.
Iran has “increased its production of highly enriched uranium, reversing a previous output reduction from mid-2023,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement.
Iran has increased its production of 60 percent enriched uranium to a rate of about 9 kilogrammes (20 pounds) a month since the end of November. That’s up from about 3 kilogrammes a month since June, and a return to the 9 kilogrammes a month it was producing during the first half of 2023, the IAEA said.
“On 19 and 24 December, IAEA inspectors verified the rate of production of uranium enriched to this level at the two facilities where Iran is carrying out these activities — the Natanz Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant and the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant,” it said.
Nuclear weapons require uranium enriched to 90 percent, while 3.67 percent is enough for nuclear power stations.
Iran appeared to have slowed its enrichment as a gesture while informal talks for a nuclear treaty had resumed with the United States.
But animosity between the two countries has intensified in recent months, with each one accusing the other of exacerbating the war between Israel and Hamas.
In November, a confidential IAEA report seen by AFP indicated that Iran’s enriched uranium stocks were 22 times the limits authorized in the 2015 accord limiting Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for lifting sanctions.
That accord fell apart in 2018 when then president Donald Trump pulled out the United States.
His successor Joe Biden has tried to revive the accord through talks in Vienna, but the process has been at a standstill since the summer of 2022.
Iran, which has supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has prevented IAEA inspections and disconnected surveillance cameras installed at its nuclear program sites.
In November, it held 567.1 kilogrammes of uranium enriched at 20 percent and 128.3 kilogrammes at 60 percent, three times what would be needed to build an atomic bomb if enriched to 90 percent.
Iran resumes pace of 60 percent uranium enrichment, IAEA says
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Iran resumes pace of 60 percent uranium enrichment, IAEA says
- Iran increased its production of 60 percent enriched uranium to a rate of about 9 kg a month since the end of November
Helicopter crashes in Libya during medical evacuation, killing 3
- The Matan Al-Sarra air base lies in an area under the control of Libya’s Benghazi-based eastern administration led by military strongman Khalifa Haftar, but authorities in the east did not comment on the crash
TRIPOLI: A helicopter has crashed in southeastern Libya, killing a medic and two crew members carrying out a medical evacuation, state media said Tuesday.
Libyan news agency LANA said the chopper went down overnight near an air base in the Kufra region about 60 kilometers north of the border between Libya and Chad.
The aircraft was attempting to evacuate a soldier who had been involved in a road accident in the desert, LANA said.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known and it was unclear what happened to the injured soldier.
Libyan media reports said two foreign nationals were among those on board who were killed, but this was not confirmed by authorities.
The Matan Al-Sarra air base lies in an area under the control of Libya’s Benghazi-based eastern administration led by military strongman Khalifa Haftar, but authorities in the east did not comment on the crash.
Libya remains split between the eastern administration and a UN-backed government in the west led by Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah. The LANA news agency is under the control of western authorities.
Libya has struggled to recover from chaos that erupted following a 2011 Arab Spring uprising that toppled and killed longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi.
