Report: Iran Says IAEA Resolving Nuclear Enrichment Ambiguities

Iran

February 22nd, 8:58am

Asharq Al-Awsat

An Iranian flag waves in a wind outside the Vienna International Center hosting the United Nations (UN) headquarters and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). (AFP)

Inspectors from the United Nations' nuclear watchdog are in Tehran and are resolving "ambiguities", Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted the country's nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami as saying on Wednesday. "Officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency are in Tehran and have been starting negotiations, visits and checks ... Ambiguities created by an inspector are being resolved," the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said. Last week, the UN nuclear watchdog said it was discussing the results of recent verification activities with Iran after Bloomberg News reported that the agency had detected uranium enriched to 84% purity, which is close to weapons grade. A spokesperson for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization denied the report on Monday and said Tehran's uranium enrichment did not exceed 60% purity. "Through interactions and coordination, we are preventing the rise of new ambiguities and disruptions to our cooperation with the agency," Eslami was quoted as saying on Wednesday. Since the US withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear deal in 2018, Iran has gradually started going beyond the pact's nuclear curbs and enriching uranium to up to 60% purity in April 2021.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4172921/report-iran-says-iaea-resolving-nuclear-enrichment-ambiguities