DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Iran on Friday began enriching uranium to its highest purity ever, enriching Tehran near the level of arms, and trying to push negotiators in Vienna amid talks over restoring its nuclear power deal with world powers after ‘ an attack on its main enrichment site.
A top official said only a few grams of uranium gas would be enriched to 60% purity – tripling the level it had done earlier, but at an amount lower than the Islamic Republic could deliver. Iran is also enriching an above-ground facility at its Natanz nuclear site that has already been visited by international inspectors, not deep in its underground halls that have been hardened to withstand airstrikes.
The narrow scope of the new enrichment offers Iran a way to decal quickly if it chooses, experts say, but the time is getting narrower. An Iranian presidential election is imminent, as Tehran is already threatening to limit international inspections. Israel, which allegedly carried out Sunday’s sabotage in Natanz, could also act again amid a long shadow war between the two rivals in the Middle East.
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of parliament in Iran, announced the higher enrichment on Twitter.
“The young and religious Iranian scientists have succeeded in achieving a 60% enriched uranium product,” Qalibaf said. “I congratulate the brave nation of Islamic Iran on this success. The will of the Iranian nation is miraculous and can defuse any conspiracy. ”
The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the country’s civilian nuclear weapon, later acknowledged the move to 60%. Ali Akbar Salehi told Iranian state television that the centrifuges now produce 9 grams per hour, but that they will drop to 5 grams per hour in the coming days.
“Any level of enrichment we desire is currently within our reach and we can do it at any time we want,” Salehi said.
It was not clear why the first announcement came from Qalibaf, a former former leader of the paramilitary revolutionary guard already named as a potential presidential candidate in Iran’s upcoming June elections..
While 60% is higher than any level that Iran has previously enriched uranium, it is still lower than the 90% level of weapons. Iran has enriched up to 20% – and even that was a short technical step to the arms deal. The agreement limited the enrichment of Iran to 3.67%.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors Iran’s nuclear program, did not respond to a request for comment. Earlier this week, he sent his inspectors to Natanz, confirming that Iran is ready to begin 60% enrichment at an above-ground facility on the site.
Israel, which has twice bombed the Middle East countries to suspend its nuclear programs, plans to hold a meeting of its top security officials on Sunday over the Iranian announcement. Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi calls Iran a threat as he travels to Cyprus on Friday.
“Israel is determined to defend itself against any attempt to undermine its sovereignty or citizens, and will do whatever is necessary to prevent this radical and anti-Semitic regime from acquiring nuclear weapons,” Ashkenazi said.
Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, although the West and the IAEA say Tehran had an organized military nuclear program until the end of 2003. An annual U.S. intelligence report released Tuesday upheld the U.S. assessment that ‘Iran is not currently undertaking the key role. weapons development activities that we believe would be necessary to produce a nuclear device. ”
Iran had earlier said it could use up to 60% of processed uranium for nuclear-powered ships. However, the Islamic Republic currently has no such ships in its fleet.
The threat of higher enrichment by Iran has already provoked criticism from the US and three European countries in the agreement – France, Germany and the United Kingdom. European Union spokesman Peter Stano on Friday called Iran’s decision a “very worrying development”. ‘
“There is no credible statement or civil justification for such action on the part of Iran,” Stano said. The Vienna talks are aimed at ‘making sure we go back on such steps that take Iran further away from fulfilling its commitments and commitments.’
Diplomats met again in Vienna on Friday. Following negotiations on Thursday, Chinese negotiator Wang Qun called for “eliminating all disruptive factors by moving forward as quickly as possible on the work of negotiations, in particular by taking advantage of the lifting of sanctions.”
The 2015 nuclear deal, for which former President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US in 2018, prevented Iran from storing enough highly enriched uranium to pursue a nuclear weapon, should it opt in exchange for lifting economic sanctions.
The attack on the weekend in Natanz was initially described only as an eclipse in the electrical network, which swept both the above-ground workshops and underground enrichment halls – but later Iranian officials began calling it an attack.
Alireza Zakani, the hard line of the Iranian parliament’s research center, referred to several thousand centrifuges damaged and destroyed in a state TV interview. However, no other official offered it and no images of the aftermath were released.
In the coming weeks, Iran has threatened to further impede IAEA inspections and possibly destroy video recordings it now owns of its facilities.. Meanwhile, it continues to use advanced centrifuges and gain knowledge in high enrichment, something that worries non-distribution experts.
“As the agreement began to unravel, Iran began to gain more knowledge on how to use more advanced machines,” said Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association. “This particular operation, which enriches up to 60%, is going to give it even more information.”
Kimball borrowed a term used to describe dilute uranium with dilute uranium: ‘The knowledge cannot be submixed. It can not be reversed. ”
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Associated Press Writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran; Rates Akram in the city of Gaza, the Gaza Strip; Samuel Petrequin in Brussels; and David Rising and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed.