*** ----> Iran nuclear chief says uranium stockpile reaches 950 tons | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

Iran nuclear chief says uranium stockpile reaches 950 tons

Tehran : Iran has increased its stockpile of uranium and boosted its ability to enrich it to weapons grade, the head of its atomic agency admitted yesterday. Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the regime had imported 550 tonnes of uranium before the 2015 agreement to curb its nuclear programme. It had acquired about 400 tonnes more since then, bringing the total to between 900 and 950 tonnes.

Iran has also built a factory that can produce rotors for up to 60 IR-6 centrifuges a day for uranium enrichment, Salehi said. The announcements came a month after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he had ordered agencies to prepare to increase uranium-enrichment capacity if the nuclear deal falls apart after Washington’s withdrawal.

Under the agreement, which was also signed by Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. The other signatories have been scrambling to save the deal. Iran has said it will wait to see what they can do, but has signalled it is ready to put its enrichment activities back on track. Salehi insisted the new factory did not break the terms of the agreement. “Instead of building this factory in the next seven or eight years, we built it during the negotiations but have not started it,” he said.

Related Posts