Iran Nuclear Program Warning Given by UN

The United Nations‘ nuclear watchdog group has warned in a recently revealed report that Iran has further boosted its stockpile of enriched uranium to near weapons-grade levels.

The confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)—seen by The Associated Press, which reported on it on Thursday—said that as of August 17, Iran has 363.1 pounds of uranium enriched up to 60 percent purity. That is an increase of 49.8 pounds since the IAEA’s last report in May and close to weapons-grade levels of 90 percent purity. The report said that as of August 17, Iran had an overall stockpile of enriched uranium at 12,681 pounds.

“The continued production and accumulation of high enriched uranium by Iran, the only non-nuclear weapon state to do so, adds to the agency’s concern,” the report concluded.

Iran, the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany and the European Union (EU) signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, in 2015. Within the JCPOA, Iran agreed to dismantle much of its nuclear program and allow for more extensive international inspections in exchange for billions of dollars’ worth of lifted sanctions.

Iran began ignoring the deal a year after then-U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement in 2018.

In September 2023, Iran banned the most experienced nuclear inspectors from monitoring its nuclear program. IAEA’s recent report said Iran has not reconsidered the ban and that IAEA surveillance cameras have remained disrupted. The agency said it asked Iran to provide access to a centrifuge manufacturing site in the city of Isfahan so that it could service its camera, but Tehran has yet to reply.

The report also said that Iran has still not given answers about the origin and current location of man-made uranium particles found at two locations—Varamin and Turquzabad—which have not been declared as potential nuclear sites by Tehran.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, opened up the possibility of Tehran and Washington re-negotiating his country’s nuclear program, telling its civilian government there was “no harm” in engaging with its “enemy.”

“This does not mean that we cannot interact with the same enemy in certain situations,” Khamenei said, according to a transcript on his official website. “There is no harm in that, but do not place your hopes in them.”

Meanwhile, after Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, was elected this past June, the IAEA offered to send the agency’s chief to Tehran “to re-launch the dialogue and cooperation between the agency and Iran,” according to the report. While Pezeshkian agreed to meet with the chief, it has yet to happen.

Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran was only allowed to install the most basic of centrifuges, the IR-1 centrifuges. However, the IAEA report said that Iran has installed multiple more advanced models of centrifuges at a couple of its nuclear plants. The more advanced models of centrifuges enrich uranium at a much faster rate.

The report comes at a time of massive tension in the Middle East as Israel continues its nearly year-long fight against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Iran has supported Hamas during the war, and Tehran launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile strike on Israel in April after two Iranian generals and others were killed in an attack on an Iranian consular building in Syria.

Meanwhile, Israel was suspected of carrying out the attack in Syria but has not claimed responsibility for it. Iran has also threatened to retaliate against Israel after Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran last month. However, Israel has not claimed responsibility for the killing.

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.