Iran’s 60% uranium output ‘suitable for nuclear bomb’

Agencies | Dubai

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Iran has made 6.5 kg (14 lb) of uranium enriched to up to 60%, the government said yesterday, detailing a move that rattled the country’s nuclear talks with world powers by taking the fissile material a step towards a nuclear weapons-grade of 90%.

Government spokesman Ali Rabiei was quoted by state media as saying the country had also produced 108 kg of uranium enriched to 20% purity, indicating quicker output than the rate required by the Iranian law that created the process.

Iran said in April it would begin enriching uranium to 60% purity, a move that would take the uranium much closer to the 90% suitable for a nuclear bomb after Tehran accused arch-foe Israel of sabotaging a key nuclear site.

Yesterday’s disclosure came as Tehran and Washington hold indirect talks in Vienna aimed at finding ways to revive a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. Iran’s hardline parliament passed a law last year to oblige the government to harden its nuclear stance.