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
Morocco to open two deepwater ports in 2026 and 2028, minister says
- The facility will be surrounded by 1,600 hectares for industrial activities and 5,200 hectares for farmland irrigated by desalinated water, Baraka said
MARRAKECH: Morocco will open a new deepwater Mediterranean port next year and another on the Atlantic in 2028, Equipment and Water minister Nizar Baraka said, as the North African country aims to replicate the success of Africa’s largest port, Tanger Med.
Nador West Med, under construction on the Mediterranean, is scheduled to be operational in the second half of 2026, Baraka told Reuters in an interview.
It will offer 800 hectares for industrial activity, with plans to expand to 5000 hectares, surpassing Tanger Med’s industrial zones, he said.
The port will also host Morocco’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal — a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) — linked by a pipeline to industrial hubs in the northwest, as Morocco pushes investments in natural gas and renewable energy to reduce dependence on coal.
Further south on the Atlantic coast, Morocco is building a $1 billion port in Dakhla, in the disputed Western Sahara region.
The facility will be surrounded by 1,600 hectares for industrial activities and 5,200 hectares for farmland irrigated by desalinated water, Baraka said.
“The port will be ready in 2028 and will be Morocco’s deepest at 23 meters,” Baraka said. Such depth would support heavy industries focused on processing raw materials from Sahel countries, he said.
Officials have marketed Dakhla as a gateway for landlocked Sahel nations to global trade.
Both Nador and Dakhla ports will include quays dedicated to exporting green hydrogen once production begins, Baraka said.
Nador and Dakhla would be Morocco’s third and fourth deepwater ports after Tanger Med and Jorf Lasfar, an energy, bulk cargo and phosphates exports port on the Atlantic.
By 2024, industrial zones near Tanger Med hosted 1,400 firms employing 130,000 people across sectors including automotive, aeronautics, textiles, agri-food and renewable energy, official figures show.
Morocco is also considering building a port in Tan-Tan on the Atlantic in partnership with green hydrogen investors, Baraka said. “We are conducting studies to decide the appropriate size of the port,” Baraka said.
