Iran began enriching uranium to 60% at Natanz facility
The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, confirmed on Friday that Tehran has started enriching uranium to 60% at the Natanz facility, days after an explosion at the site, which Iran blamed on Israel.
Earlier, the speaker of parliament said that Iranian scientists had successfully begun enriching uranium at 60% at 12:40 a.m. local time, Reuters reported.
On Wednesday, France, Germany and Britain considered that Iran’s announcement of their intention to start enriching uranium to 60% is a “dangerous development”, a step that “violates the atmosphere” of the talks in Vienna to salvage the Iranian nuclear agreement.
Spokesmen for the foreign ministries of the three signatories of the 2015 accord said: “This is a serious development, because the production of highly enriched uranium is an important step for a nuclear weapon,” and “violates the constructive atmosphere and good faith in the talks.”
A Response to “Nuclear Terrorism”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that Iran’s decision to enrich uranium to 60% after the explosion at the Natanz plant was Tehran’s “response” to Israel’s “nuclear terrorism”.
“It is a response to the malice of the enemies,” Rouhani said in the cabinet. “What you have done is called nuclear terrorism and what we are doing is legitimate,” he said, referring to Israel, which Tehran accuses of sabotaging its uranium enrichment reactor in Natanz, central Iran.
He continued: “Certainly our (nuclear) activities will remain peaceful and peaceful only and under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency,” whether “our enrichment is 60 % or 20 %”.
Washington Willing to Continue Negotiating
On Tuesday, the White House said that US President Joe Biden was still willing to continue negotiations with Iran, despite its declared intention to enrich uranium to 60%, which would put it closer to being able to use for military purposes.
White House spokeswoman Jen Skye said: “We are certainly concerned about this provocative announcement. “We are confident that the diplomatic track is the only way to make progress in this regard and that holding talks, even indirect ones, is the best way to reach a solution”.
