Iran is escalating uranium enrichment in preparation for the use of advanced AR6 centrifuges at the Purdue underground facility.
These centrifuges can switch between different enrichment levels in a shorter time.
This emerges this morning (Tuesday) from an IAEA report revealed by the Reuters news agency.
This is the latest in a series of measures that Iran has threatened to take, but has postponed following a review by the UN Council of Governors. Uranium remains discovered at undeclared sites.
Iran is trying to get as close as possible to the nuclear, without crossing the lines.
The reactor at Bushehr, Photo: E.P.
According to the Atomic Energy Control Agency inspectors confirmed on Saturday that Iran is ready to supply uranium 6 fluorine gas to advanced centrifuges at the Purdue underground facility.
Iran informed the agency on Monday that it had begun earlier this week a preliminary process for enrichment, which involved, among other things, feeding gas to machines.
However, Iran has not indicated to the IAEA what the expected level of enrichment is in the process. In the past, Tehran has argued that 6 IR hubs cannot be used to reach an enrichment level of up to 5 or 20 percent. As stated, the IAEA has not yet received clarification from Iran regarding the state of production it intends to implement at the facility.
At the same time, the Reuters news agency reported that on another site Iran is already enriching to a level of up to 60 percent - close to the level of 90 percent required for nuclear weapons.
This is a much higher level than the level committed by Iran (3.67 percent) in the 2018 nuclear deal from which the US withdrew.
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