The United States has been one to show concern over Iran’s increasing production of weapon-grade Uranium.
“Iran’s nuclear escalation is all the more concerning at a time when Iran-backed proxies continue their dangerous and destabilizing activities in the region, including the recent deadly drone attack and other attempted attacks in Iraq and Syria and the Houthi attacks against commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea,” the US spokesperson said.
A report issued on Tuesday by the Atomic Energy Agency warned of Tehran accelerating production of the high-grade material.
It has been reported that over the past few weeks, Iran has increased their production of this weapons-grade material after taking a slow break in 2023. They are said to be producing 60 percent Uranium, which is just behind the weapons-grade 90 percent Uranium.
The IAEA said that they have been observing this increase since the end of November. However, Iran’s atomic energy chief, Mohammed Eslami said that Iran was doing “nothing new” and that they are working “according to the rules.”
The production of Uranium by Iran has increased more than 22 times since 2015. With this being said, Iran claims that they have no intention of creating nuclear weapons any time soon.
There were reports of informal talks between the US and Iran about a nuclear treaty, however, the war between Israel and Gaza has put tension between Tehran and Washington.
The concern stands, as Iran continues with this amount of Uranium production which is more than they have produced in months.
There was a previous deal from 2015 that put a limit on how much Uranium one could produce, which was set at 202.8kg. As of now, Iran has reached 4,486.8kg as this previous deal from 2015 is no longer in effect since Trump dismantled it in 2018.
There had already been concern in September when the IAEA complained that Tehran had banned their most experienced inspectors from monitoring the country’s nuclear program.
The tension continues to rise as the United States, and other countries, watch Iran produce ample amounts of weapon-grade materials, as conflicts rise, despite Iran stating that they are doing “nothing new.”
