Iran Stored Enriched Uranium Nearly 10 Times of Prescribed Limit, UN Watchdog Says

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that Iran has continued to grow its enriched uranium stock to 2,105 kilograms, which is nearly ten times the 300 kg limit agreed upon in 2015.

With the massive number of resources, Iran denied that the amount of uranium was a threat because its nuclear program was exclusively stored for peaceful purposes.

Weapons-grade uranium

According to BBC, the discovery of the surplus of enriched uranium in the country was during the time that Iran gave access to inspectors of the agency to one of two potentially operating former nuclear sites. The IAEA announced that it would be taking samples at the second site later this month.

Iran last year began to purposely and openly go back on its promise to comply with agreements written under an international nuclear accord from 2015. The deal involved several other nations; Russia, France, China, Germany, the UK, and the United States.

The Middle Eastern country's actions include the production of enriched uranium past the limit that was stated in the accord. While the levels of enriched uranium did surpass the threshold by a large margin, it was nowhere near the amount needed for use in atomic weapons.

Iran would need to produce 1,050 kilograms of 3.67 percent enriched uranium in order to manufacture a nuclear weapon capable of threatening enemies. However, the Arms Control Association, a US-based advocacy group, said that the country would then need to further enrich that resource to at least 90 percent.

Low-enriched uranium has usual concentrations of about three to five percent of the fissile isotope U-235 and can supply energy to power plants. However, uranium used in nuclear weapons needs to be enriched 90 percent or more to be effective.

Even if Tehran decides to enrich its uranium for nuclear weapons, experts say that the process would last a very long time.

Also Read: Iran Gives UN Access to Two Previously Guarded Nuclear Sites in Fears of International Sanctions

Backing out of the deal

In 2018, United States President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the deal that kept tabs on how much enriched uranium Iran should have, arguing that the details of the accord should be reviewed and renegotiated, as reported by Aljazeera.

Iran has since slowly but surely pushed back against the limits implemented to try and force other remaining nations in the agreement to increase incentives. Experts believe the move aims to offset new and economically-devastating US sanctions.

The remaining countries in the accord argue that while Iran violated several past restrictions imposed on it, preservation of the deal was imperative because the Middle Eastern country supplied critical access to the IAEA to inspect its nuclear facilities.

Two locations in Iran which are believed to have been constructed in the early 2000s placed the agency at a months-long impasse. Tehran, on the other hand, said that IAEA inspectors had no right to visit the sites because they were erected before the deal was signed.

Last week, Iran announced that it would give IAEA inspectors access to the two nuclear sites after Director General Rafael Grossi of the agency visited Tehran.

On Friday, a separate report by the IAEA wrote that Iran gave inspectors access to the two locations to gather environmental samples. The findings will be sent to laboratories that are part of the IAEA's network and analyzed by scientists.