UN: Iran is increasing uranium enrichment

2025-05-31 15:46:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Iran has significantly increased its stockpile of enriched uranium to levels close to those required for nuclear weapons in recent months, according to several media outlets citing a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), raising doubts about a possible deal with the United States over Tehran's nuclear program.

The confidential report from the UN nuclear energy agency says that as of May 17, Iran had stockpiled 408.6 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent, an increase from less than 275 kilograms that was reported in the IAEA's last report in February, according to the Associated Press news agency.

According to the AP, the move from 60 percent to the weapons-grade 90 percent is “a short technical step.” The agency cited the IAEA as saying that about 42 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent is theoretically enough to produce a nuclear bomb, if further enriched to 90 percent.

The IAEA report states that Iran is "the only non-nuclear state producing such material", which, according to the UN agency, constitutes a "serious concern".

The IAEA report comes as US President Donald Trump has sought to reach an agreement with Iran to limit Tehran's nuclear activities.

Since January of this year, when Trump returned to the White House, Washington and Tehran have held five rounds of talks.

The US had withdrawn from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and imposed economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Uranium enrichment has been a key point of disagreement. The US administration insists that Iran must halt all enrichment activities, while Iran has rejected this demand.

Senior Iranian officials said on May 29 that any deal must include the lifting of sanctions against Tehran and must allow its nuclear program - which they say is peaceful - to continue.

However, a day earlier, Trump stated that he believes a deal can be reached "in the not-too-distant future," adding that Iran "would rather have a deal" than "be destroyed" - a reference to the US president's repeated warnings that Tehran could face major military consequences if it does not sign a nuclear pact.

Meanwhile, on May 28, Trump stated that he had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to attack Iran, in order to give the US administration more time to push forward a new agreement with Tehran./ Rel