Iran’s Nuclear Leap ‘Extremely Serious’, Says Western Source

Iran’s acceleration in its enrichment of uranium to close to bomb grade is “extremely serious”, a Western diplomatic source said on Saturday.

According to the source, this has no civilian justification and contradicts Tehran’s assertions on wanting serious nuclear negotiations.

Iran has long denied seeking nuclear weapons.

Its foreign ministry said on Saturday that Tehran’s nuclear programme is under continuous supervision of the UN nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Western diplomatic source  told Reuters the acceleration of enrichment was “in contradiction with Iran’s declarations on its willingness to return to credible negotiations”.

“These measures have no credible civilian justification and could, on the contrary, directly fuel a military nuclear programme if Iran were to take the decision,” the source said.

Rafael Grossi, head of the IAEA, told Reuters on Friday that Iran was accelerating its enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, approaching the about 90% level that is weapons grade.

“Today the agency is announcing that the production capacity is increasing dramatically of the 60% inventory,”  Grossi said on the sidelines of the Manama Dialogue security conference in Bahrain’s capital.

He added that it was set to rise to “seven, eight times more, maybe, or even more” than the previous rate of 5-7 kg a month.

The IAEA later confirmed in a confidential report to member states the acceleration in enrichment.

Enrichment is a process that refines the raw material for use as fuel in civil nuclear power generation or, potentially, nuclear weapons.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Saturday that Iran’s nuclear programme is carried out in the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and other safeguards in a “completely transparent manner and under the supervision of the IAEA”.

Baghaei was responding to Grossi’s remarks and the news of the confidential report.

“The recent activities have also been carried out with detailed information provided to the IAEA and are under its continuous supervision,” Baghaei said.

(With inputs from Reuters)