tehéran justified detection by the International Agency for Atomic Energy of Enrichment of 83.7 % by “Involuntary Fluctations”.
MO12345LEMONDE WITH AFP
The International Atomic Energy Agency (AIEA) confirmed Thursday, February 28, that it had detected in Iran uranium particles enriched at 83.7 %, just below the 90 % necessary to produce an atomic bomb, According to a report consulted Tuesday, February 28 by the France-Presse agency. They were discovered following the collection of samples in January in the Fordo underground factory, said the UN body, which confirms information given by diplomatic sources.
The AIEA has requested “clarifications” and “discussions are still underway” to determine the origin of these particles, adds the report which will be presented next week at the Governors’ Council of the Agency, to Vienna. Iran, which denies wanting to have the atomic weapon, for its part reports “involuntary fluctuations” during the enrichment process, in a letter to the agency.
Last week, Tehran said “not having attempted to enrich beyond 60 %”. “The presence of particles beyond 60 % does not mean that there is an enrichment [uranium] at more than 60 %,” reacted the spokesperson for the organization of Iranian nuclear energy, Behrouz Kamalvandi.
moribund agreement
This information arises while negotiations in order to revive the agreement concluded in 2015 to limit Iran’s atomic activities in exchange for lifting of international sanctions are at downtime. They had started in April 2021 in Vienna between Tehran and the great powers, but they have been blocked since August 2022 in a context of increasing tensions.
The agreement, known by the acronym of JCPOA, has been moribund since the withdrawal of the United States, decided in 2018 by President Donald Trump. The Islamic Republic has gradually freed from its commitments.
Its total stock of enriched uranium amounted to 3,760.8 kilos on February 12 (against 3,673.7 kilos in October), more than eighteen times the limit authorized by JCPOA , according to estimates of the IAEA. Especially Iran enriches ever more at high levels, far from the limit set at 3.67 %: it thus has 434.7 kilos to 20 % (against 386.4 kilos previously) and 87.5 kilos at 60 % (against 62.3 kilos).