West condemns increased uranium enrichment by Iran
On Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), citing data collected at Iranian nuclear facilities, stated that Iran had increased its monthly production of 60 percent enriched uranium to nine kilograms since November - having previously reduced production to three kilograms per month since June. Iran responded to the IAEA report by stating that it contained "nothing new".
Uranium enriched to around 90 percent is required to build nuclear weapons, while enrichment to 3.67 percent is sufficient to generate electricity using nuclear power.
The USA, Great Britain, France and Germany have now declared that the increase stated by the IAEA will further exacerbate the escalation of Iran's nuclear program.
Iran had reduced enrichment in the summer, while informal talks with representatives of the USA on a nuclear agreement had been resumed. Since the start of the war between the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas, which is allied with Iran, and Israel, however, tensions between Washington and Tehran have increased considerably again.
The USA, France, the UK, Germany, Russia and China concluded a nuclear agreement with Iran in 2015. It was intended to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. In 2018, the USA unilaterally withdrew from the agreement under its then President Donald Trump. As a result, Iran also gradually ceased to adhere to its obligations. Since then, negotiations to revive the agreement have remained fruitless.
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Source: www.stern.de
