Tehran has crossed a new threshold by increasing its stock of uranium enriched to 20% to more than 120 kg, the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization announced on Saturday evening.
“We have exceeded 120 kg.
We have more than that number.
Our people know very well that they (the West, Editor's note) were supposed to give us the fuel enriched at 20% to use in the Tehran reactor, but they did not do it, ”
Mohammad Eslami said on television. State.
"
If our colleagues did not produce it, we would naturally have problems with the lack of fuel for the Tehran reactor
," he added.
Return of sanctions
According to estimates at the end of August, Tehran had increased its stock of uranium enriched to 20% to 84.3 kg, a level which in theory allows it to produce medical isotopes, used in particular in the diagnosis of certain cancers.
Then in April, the Islamic Republic crossed the unprecedented 60% threshold and produced from 10 kg, approaching the 90% needed to make a bomb.
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Concluded in 2015 between Iran on the one hand, and the United States, United Kingdom, China, Russia, France and Germany on the other hand, the agreement offered Tehran the lifting of part of the international sanctions in exchange for a drastic reduction in its nuclear program, placed under strict UN control.
But after the unilateral withdrawal of the Americans from the agreement in 2018 under the presidency of Donald Trump, Tehran gradually abandoned its commitments.
The United States in turn imposed sanctions.