JAKARTA - The United National (PBB) Atomic Watchdog confirmed Iran's plan to start uranium metal production plans on Wednesday, February 10 at local time. However, previously Western countries warned that this could potentially violate the 2015 nuclear deal.
"Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi today notified Member States of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), of the latest developments regarding Iranian R&D activities on uranium metal production, as part of the stated goal of producing fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor", the IAEA said in a statement.
Wednesday's report, seen by Reuters, and earlier said that Iran plans to research uranium metal, using natural uranium before turning to uranium metal-enriched to 20 percent, up to close to 90 percent or present at the weapons level.
"The agency on February 8 verified 3.6 grams of uranium metal at the Iranian Fuel Plate Fabrication Plant (FPFP) in Esfahan", the IAEA statement added.
Iran is known to have slowly violated the 2015 nuclear deal, after the United States under the leadership of Donald Trump withdrew in 2019, followed by the imposition of sanctions by Washington on Tehran.
Iran is also speeding up its nuclear development process and program, potentially making it difficult for Iran to return to the nuclear treaty. Even though, Iran told the IAEA in December about the planned production of metal-fuel uranium for research reactors.
France, Britain, and Germany, all parties to the deal, expressed concern about the program last month. They also said Iran's production of uranium metal lacked civilian credibility, but had the potential to have serious military implications.
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