Iran says it will enrich uranium up to 20 percent, UN nuclear watchdog says

Iran says it will enrich uranium up to 20 percent, UN nuclear watchdog says

/ Middle East

















Issued on: 01/01/2021 - 23:07

















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











Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it intends to produce uranium enriched to up to 20 percent purity, well beyond the threshold set by the 2015 Vienna accord, the UN nuclear watchdog said Friday.











"Iran informed the agency of its intention to enrich uranium at a rate of up to 20 percent in its Fordow underground plant, to comply with a law recently passed by the Iranian parliament," an IAEA spokesperson told AFP.

The letter dated December 31 "did not state exactly when this enrichment activity would begin", the spokesperson added.

Russian ambassador to the IAEA Mikhail Ulyanov reported the information earlier on Twitter, citing a report submitted by IAEA chief Rafael Grossi to the board of governors.

"It is an additional blow,"