U.N. Nuclear Watchdog: Iran Triples Production of Near Weapons-Grade Uranium

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported on Tuesday that Iran had tripled its production of uranium enriched to 60 percent at its plants in Natanz and Fordow.

Sixty percent enrichment is generally regarded as the last stop before hitting weapons-grade purity at 90 percent. No peaceful use of uranium requires 60 percent enrichment. Civilian nuclear reactors require only 3.67 percent purity.

The IAEA said Iran was producing about three kilograms of 60 percent uranium per month over the summer but increased its pace to nine kilograms per month in late November.

“On 19 and 24 December, IAEA inspectors verified the rate of production of uranium enriched to this level at the two facilities where Iran is carrying out these activities – the Natanz Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant and the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant,” the report said.

The production increase apparently reversed a trend toward lower uranium enrichment that began when the Biden administration was attempting to revive former President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal. The enrichment surge in November came after the Hamas atrocities of October 7 and could signal Iran’s anger with U.S. support for Israel’s counter-terrorism operation in Gaza.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported seeing a confidential IAEA report in November that said Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was already 22 times higher than the limit authorized by the Obama agreement, even before the pace of 60 percent enrichment picked up.

According to this document, Iran had stockpiled 128.3 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent as of November, enough to build three atomic bombs if further enriched to 90 percent.

A spokesperson for the Biden State Department told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that the administration is “greatly concerned” by the latest IAEA report:

Iran’s nuclear escalation is all the more concerning at a time when Iran as well as Iran-backed militant groups and Iran’s proxies continue their dangerous and destabilizing activities in the region. This includes the latest drone attack against U.S. personnel in Iraq, Houthi attacks against commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea as well as Iran’s latest armed-drone attack against a chemical tanker in the Indian Ocean.

The attack in the Indian Ocean occurred on December 23, when the tanker MV Chem Pluto was struck by a weapon launched from Iran, possibly a bomb-laden drone. The strike caused a fire aboard the ship, which the crew managed to control. MV Chem Pluto reached a safe harbor in Mumbai on Monday.

The Indian navy deployed three guided missile destroyers to the Arabian Sea in response to the attack to “maintain a deterrent presence.”