Iran says ‘nothing new’ in UN nuclear watchdog report

TEHRAN: Iran said on Wednesday there was “nothing new” in an International Atomic Energy Agency report which said it had recently accelerated production of highly enriched uranium after months of slowdown.

“We have done nothing new and our activity is according to the regulations,” said Iran´s top nuclear official Mohammad Eslami.

“We were producing the same 60 percent, we didn´t change anything and we didn´t create any new capacity.”

On Tuesday, the IAEA released a report saying Iran “increased its production of highly enriched uranium, reversing a previous output reduction from mid-2023.”

Iran had increased its output of 60 percent enriched uranium to a rate of about nine kilogrammes a month since the end of November, the UN watchdog said.

That is up from about three kilogrammes a month since June, and a return to the nine kilogrammes a month it was producing during the first half of 2023.

Still higher enrichment levels of around 90 percent are required for use in a nuclear weapon.

Iran has consistently denied any ambition to develop a nuclear weapons capability, insisting that its activities are entirely peaceful.