Iran has made progress in its work on enriched uranium metal, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report to member states on Monday seen by Reuters.
"On 14 August 2021, the Agency verified ... that Iran had used 257 g of uranium enriched up to 20% U-235 in the form of UF4 (uranium tetrafluoride) to produce 200 g of uranium metal-enriched up to 20% U-235," the IAEA said, adding that this was step three in a four-step plan by Iran. The fourth includes producing a reactor fuel plate.
The high-level enrichment by Iran has come as a reaction to the continued blatant violations of the JCPOA by the other parties. Iran has taken steps away from the nuclear deal after the US withdrawal from the JCPOA in 2018 amid the indifference of the other parties. Iran has increased the uranium enrichment level and suspended the Additional Protocol.
Tehran has already held six rounds of talks with JCPOA participants known as the P4+1 with the aim of salvaging the JCPOA in the Austrian capital of Vienna.
During the talks, the Western powers were only killing time and were not ready to oblige the US to return the nuclear deal and lift the illegal sanctions the previous Trump administration had imposed on Tehran in blatant violation of the deal.
Meanwhile, when the Vienna negotiations were going on, Iran would warn that it would leave the Vienna talks if they take too long and if its legitimate demands as per the JCPOA are not met. Anyway, the other parties, especially the Europeans were killing time while the new US administration is still sticking to the Trump-era sanctions.
The current US administration has not yet fulfilled the promises Joe Biden made during his presidential elections campaigns to undo Trump's actions and return to the deal. In the meantime, Tehran has also stressed that the Biden administration's return to the agreement without lifting the sanctions is no of value.
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei said just at the start of the new administration of President Raeisi in Iran that the Western countries are not trustworthy.
KI/PR
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