Iran starts enriching uranium to 60% at Fordow nuclear site, stepping closer to bomb

The Jerusalem Post reports: “Iran has started enriching uranium to 60% purity at its underground Fordow nuclear site, according to state media on Tuesday, which described the action as a response to the UN nuclear watchdog’s demand for more cooperation from Tehran.

Iran is already enriching uranium to up to 60% purity elsewhere, well below the roughly 90% needed for weapons-grade material but above the 20% it produced before a 2015 agreement with major powers to cap enrichment at 3.67%.

‘In a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran has informed the agency that it has started enriching uranium to 60% purity at Fordow site,’ the semi-official ISNA news agency reported, adding that it was a ‘strong response’ to the agency’s latest resolution.

The IAEA 35-nation Board of Governors on Thursday passed a resolution ordering Iran to cooperate urgently with the agency’s investigation into uranium traces found at three undeclared sites, diplomats at the closed-door vote said.

The semi-official Fars news agency said Tehran had also started the process of ‘replacing the first-generation centrifuges (IR-1) with advanced IR-6 ones’ at Fordow, a site buried inside a mountain…”

The post Iran starts enriching uranium to 60% at Fordow nuclear site, stepping closer to bomb appeared first on JVIM.