According to the United Nations Atomic Energy Agency, the Islamic Republic has begun producing uranium metal in a secret dedicated facility • This is a significant step on the road to bomb production
Iranian nuclear facility
Photography:
AFP
The United Nations Atomic Energy Agency announced tonight (Wednesday) that Iran has begun producing uranium metal, an important material in the production of an atomic bomb, the Reuters news agency reported.
According to the report, Iran has begun producing the material at a secret designated facility.
Uranium metal is used to make the stable core of a nuclear bomb.
The material has another civilian use, the production of nuclear fuel rods for power generation reactors, but Iran does not need these.
Despite Tehran's claims that it needs the material for a research reactor in Tehran, the significance of the evidence for the production of metallic uranium indicates, as far as possible, military use.
"The agency's general manager, Raffaello Marino Grossi, has updated the organization's membership policy regarding the development of the Iranian nuclear program, and the start of uranium metal production in the country, in order to supply fuel to a research reactor in Tehran," the organization said in a statement.
The move is a serious violation of the nuclear agreement signed by Iran.
Just last week, Israel Today revealed in an internal document distributed to members of the International Atomic Energy Agency's organization that the Islamic Republic is moving toward developing its nuclear project and operating advanced centrifuges, in violation of an agreement it signed with the powers in 2015.
U.S. President Joe Biden made it clear earlier this week that his country would not lift heavy economic sanctions on Tehran in order to return to the negotiating table with it in the nuclear deal.
The remarks were made to the American news network CBS and they constitute the first reference of its kind to the issue of the Iranian nuclear issue since Biden was elected president.
Biden has previously stated that he is interested in returning to the nuclear deal with Iran and that he believes that only a return to the agreement will prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.