By STEPHANIE LIECHTENSTEIN

VIENNA (AP) — Iran has further increased its stockpile of nearly weapons-grade uranium despite international demands, according to a confidential report by the United Nations nuclear watchdog on Thursday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency report, obtained by The Associated Press, said Iran had 363.1 pounds of uranium enriched to 60 percent as of Aug. 17, an increase of 49.8 pounds since the IAEA’s last report in May.

Uranium enriched to 60% is only a small technical step away from the weapons-grade 90%. According to the IAEA definition, around 92.5 pounds of uranium enriched to 60% is the amount that could theoretically be used to make a nuclear weapon – and if the material is further enriched, even to 90%.

IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi had previously warned that Tehran had enough uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels to make “multiple” nuclear bombs if it wanted to. He acknowledged that the UN agency could not guarantee that none of Iran’s centrifuges had been uncovered for clandestine enrichment.

Thursday’s damning report represents the latest low point in deteriorating relations between Tehran and the IAEA.

The landmark nuclear deal that Iran signed with world powers in 2015 had placed limits on its enrichment program. The West fears it could be used to produce nuclear weapons and Tehran insists it is for peaceful purposes only. At the same time, economic sanctions against Iran were lifted.

But the deal fell apart when the Trump administration withdrew the United States from the agreement in 2018. Iran then abandoned all restrictions the agreement imposed on its program and enriched uranium to a purity of up to 60 percent.

Separately, surveillance cameras installed by the IAEA have been disrupted and Iran has barred some of the Vienna-based agency’s most experienced inspectors from the country. Iranian government officials are also increasingly threatening that they may seek to build nuclear weapons.

The IAEA report further states that Tehran has not reversed its September decision to prohibit the agency’s inspectors from monitoring its nuclear programme and that IAEA surveillance cameras continue to be disrupted.

The IAEA said it had asked Iran in a letter dated August 8 to grant access to the facility in the city of Isfahan so the agency could service its cameras, but had received no response.

In addition, the report said Iran has still not provided answers to the nuclear regulatory authority’s years-long investigation into the origin and current whereabouts of man-made uranium particles found at two sites called Varamin and Turquzabad, which Tehran has not declared as potential nuclear facilities.

The IAEA report comes just days after Iran’s supreme leader opened the door to new negotiations with the United States over his country’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, telling the civilian government that there was “no harm” in engaging with the “enemy.”

With his comments on Tuesday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei set clear red lines for all talks under the new government of reform-minded President Masoud Pezeshkian and reiterated his warning that Washington cannot be trusted.

According to the IAEA, Iran’s total stockpile of enriched uranium as of August 17 was 12,681 pounds.

“The continued production and accumulation of highly enriched uranium by Iran, the only non-nuclear-weapon state to do so, heightens the Agency’s concerns,” the report concludes.

The report acknowledges that the IAEA was informed before the Iranian elections in June “that further cooperation with the agency would be decided by the new Iranian government.”

After Pezeshkian’s election victory, the IAEA congratulated him and offered to send the agency’s chief to Tehran “to resume dialogue and cooperation between the agency and Iran,” the report said. But although the newly elected Iranian president “confirmed his agreement to meet” with the IAEA chief, no progress has been made in this regard since then.

The IAEA report also said the agency confirmed that Tehran had completed the installation of eight cascades of IR-6 centrifuges at its underground facility in Fordow, as well as the installation of 10 of the 18 planned cascades of IR-2m centrifuges and at the underground site in Natanz, where two more cascades are currently being installed.

The agency said Iran had begun operating six additional cascades of already installed IR-2m centrifuges and nine additional cascades of already installed IR-4 centrifuges at the Natanz underground site.

Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran was only allowed to install first-generation centrifuges at Natanz. The more advanced centrifuge models enrich uranium much faster than the conventional IR-1 centrifuges.

The IAEA report is likely to add to broader concerns in the Middle East, as tensions between Iran and Israel have reached new highs since Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 and the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Tehran launched an unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel in April, after the years-long shadow war between the two countries culminated with Israel’s apparent attack on an Iranian consulate building in Syria that killed two Iranian generals and others. The assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran also prompted Iran to threaten retaliation against Israel.

Originally published: August 29, 2024 at 12:47