The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Iran has increased its enriched uranium capacity to 6,201.3 kilograms, which was limited to around 300 kilograms under the nuclear deal signed in 2015.
The IAEA’s quarterly report on Iran’s nuclear activities, which is shared with Board members, included data on the country’s enriched uranium capacity. The report stated that Iran had far exceeded the level of enriched uranium set by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known as the Iran nuclear deal, signed in 2015.
It reported that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium had risen to 6,201.3 kilograms as of 11 May, an increase of 675.8 kilograms from the previous quarterly report.
The report noted that the Tehran regime continued to produce 60 per cent purity uranium and that Iran had 142 kilograms of 60 per cent purity enriched uranium in stock, an increase of more than 20 kilograms since the previous report.
Iran nuclear deal
In July 2015, after nearly three years of negotiations between Iran and the permanent members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the European Union, known as the P5+1 countries, a nuclear deal was reached.
The nuclear deal, which began to be implemented in 2016, restricted Iran to enriching uranium to 3.67 per cent and limiting its stockpile of enriched uranium to 300 kilograms.
After the US unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran, problems began to arise in the implementation of the deal.
Despite attempts to maintain the deal, no progress was made and Iran began to increase its stockpile of low-enriched uranium in 2019.
Particularly after the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in 2020, the Tehran government announced that it would not comply with the limits set by the deal, but would inform the IAEA of the steps it had taken.
In the process, Iran increased its enrichment rate to 60 per cent from the 3.67 per cent limited by the deal, while replacing the simple centrifuges used to enrich uranium with advanced modern centrifuges, increasing both the level of enrichment and its capacity.
