IAEA inspectors are said to have found uranium enriched to 84 percent in Iran. Tehran softens and calls for nuclear talks to resume.
Iran officially denies pursuing a nuclear bomb
Experts are watching the latest developments in the nuclear dispute with Iran with great concern. The American news agency Bloomberg reported on Sunday, citing two diplomatic sources, that inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had found uranium with an enrichment level of 84 percent in Iran. Uranium enriched to 84 percent is not only about 20 times more enriched than permitted under the 2015 Vienna Nuclear Accord with Iran, it is also close to the 90 percent level required to build a nuclear bomb.
“There is absolutely no civilian purpose that would require uranium to be so highly enriched,” writes Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in Washington, D.C., when asked by DW. Iran's allowing the discovery rather than announcing the enrichment itself, he says, could be part of the hardliners' strategy to put more pressure on the West.
“Until uranium enrichment to 84 percent is confirmed, we cannot draw any conclusions. If true, uranium enrichment to 84 percent would be another way for Iran to gain leverage to regain the benefits of the sanctions relief that the US had withdrawn in 2018.” According to Fitzpatrick, the enrichment to 84 percent, which would enable Iran to produce the core of a nuclear weapon even faster than before, is in line with “Iran's very aggressive strategy to acquire nuclear weapons capability.”
Tehran's unsuccessful strategy
Behrooz Bayat, a former advisor to the IAEA, shares this opinion in an interview with DW: “It is quite possible that Iran will again use highly enriched uranium as a means of exerting pressure.” He points out that Iran began enriching uranium to 60 percent as early as June 2021. The 2015 international nuclear agreement only allows Iran to enrich uranium to 3.67 percent for civilian use. An enrichment level of between three and five percent is sufficient for generating energy, and uranium enriched to 20 percent is used in nuclear medicine.
< p>In June 2021, Iran began enriching uranium to 60 percent.
Iran announced its decision to increase enrichment shortly after the start of negotiations with the new US administration of President Joe Biden over a return to the nuclear deal. The reason: The hardliners in Tehran wanted to achieve maximum concessions in the negotiations. At the time, Iran's chief negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani promised a “good new agreement” in various interviews with state media in Iran. His plan didn't work.
“Until now, Iran has officially enriched uranium to 60 percent,” says nuclear physicist Bayat. And adds: “It is possible that Iran has unannounced enriched a small amount to the higher level. I suspect that the intention behind this is to demonstrate: We are getting closer to 90 percent enriched uranium. And if we want to build a nuclear bomb , we are able to.”
Iran has officially denied pursuing a nuclear bomb or enriching uranium beyond 60 percent. “The presence of uranium particles above 60 percent in the enrichment process does not mean enrichment above 60 percent,” Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi told state news agency IRNA on Monday. “Uranium has never been enriched beyond 60 percent in Iran's nuclear facilities.” Kamalvandi accuses Bloomberg news agency of “skewing the facts” in her report.
According to the US agency's report, the IAEA inspectors found highly enriched uranium particles in the tube system that connects the centrifuges used for uranium enrichment. According to Bloomberg, inspectors are now tasked with investigating whether Iran produced the material intentionally or whether the concentration is the result of unintentional accumulation. The material may have been caused by technical problems in the operation of the centrifuges, it said, citing one of the diplomats. Something like this has happened in the past.
Iran will cooperate with the IAEA, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said at a press conference in Tehran on Monday. This is an “important principle” for Iran. The country continues to be committed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and to the agreements with the IAEA on special control measures, the so-called “safeguards”. Tehran also wants to continue talks about reinstating the nuclear deal. “The United States' tough and unilateral sanctions against Iran must be lifted and all parties must responsibly return to the agreement,” said the Iranian spokesman.