Iran produced uranium metal, in new breach of nuclear deal, UN atomic agency says

Iran produced 3.6 grams of natural uranium of the Natanz nuclear facility, UN inspectors found on February 8

Credit: Reuters

Iran has begun production of uranium metal, a further violation of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, according to the United Nations’ atomic watchdog agency. 

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed on February 8 that Iran’s Isfahan fuel plate fabrication plant had produced a small amount of uranium metal, IAEA head Rafael Grossi told member states on Wednesday.

Uranium metal can form the core of an atomic weapon but also has civilian applications including fuel for nuclear power plants and as medical isotopes.

But Iran is banned from producing the material under the agreement limiting its nuclear activity that it signed with Germany, France, Britain, China, Russia and the United States.

Since Donald Trump, the former US president, unilaterally withdrew the US from the deal in 2018, the remaining states have tried to keep the accord alive, even as Tehran progressively walked back from its commitments. 

Iran’s latest violation of the agreement comes as the new administration of US president Joe Biden has indicated it is open to a return to diplomacy and Tehran is eager for relief from crippling economic sanctions. 

Last month Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State, said Iran must resume full compliance before the US returns to the agreement or consider lifting sanctions. But on Sunday Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei insisted the US must first honour the agreement, leaving the two states at an apparent impasse.

In its Wednesday report, the IAEA said the 3.6 grams of uranium metal Iran produced was natural uranium, meaning it was not enriched. Iran already has tonnes of low-enriched uranium and says it has no intention of producing a nuclear weapon, which would require highly enriched uranium.

After the assassination of its top nuclear scientist in November, which Tehran blamed on Israel, Iran’s hardline-dominated parliament passed a law aimed at toughening the Islamic republic’s nuclear stance, which called for pursuing uranium production.

In December it told the IAEA that it planned to conduct research and development on uranium metal production as part of its "declared aim to design an improved type of fuel" for a research reactor. 

In January Britain, France and Germany expressed concern at these plans, saying Iran had “no credible civilian use" for uranium metal. 

A joint statement from the foreign ministries of the three countries urged Iran to halt plants to produce uranium, saying it had "potentially grave military implications."