Iran is capable of increasing uranium enrichment to 60 pct: Spokesman

Iran has the capability to enrich uranium from 40 percent to 60 percent, the semi-official Fars News Agency quoted the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Agency of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi as saying on Tuesday.

“Yesterday we started 20 percent enrichment at Fordow [nuclear facility] after 6 years,” Kamalvandi said on Tuesday, adding, “We have the capacity in the nuclear industry to produce at higher levels even 40- 60 percent.”

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“Currently, we have 4 tons of substance with 3.5 and 4 percent enrichment and, according to the forecast based on the parliament’s ratification, we will increase our capacity almost to 500 tons per month,” Behrouz told Fars.

“This means 6 tons annually and we can say that within a year we will have nearly 10 tons of uranium equal to the capacity prior to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” he added.

The Iranian government on Monday announced that it had resumed 20 percent uranium enrichment at its underground Fordow nuclear facility.

A handout picture released by Iran's Atomic Energy Organization on November 6, 2019, shows the interior of the Fordow Uranium Conversion Facility in Qom, Iran. (File photo: AFP)

The level of purity – 40 percent lower than what the AEOI spokesman said the facility is capable of – violates Tehran’s 2015 nuclear pact with six major powers.

Monday’s announcement is Iran’s latest violation in a series of breaches to the nuclear deal.

Tehran had started violating the pact in 2019 following the US’ withdrawal from the agreement and the reimposition of sanctions on Iran.

(With Reuters)

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