Iran plans to ‘significantly increase’ enriched uranium production: IAEA

VIENNA: Iran plans a major increase in the production rate of highly enriched uranium, the UN nuclear watchdog said on Friday in a confidential report seen by AFP.

An updated design of Iran´s Fordo plant showed that the effect of the change “would be to significantly increase the rate of production of uranium enriched up to 60 percent”, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report said.

Production will jump to more than 34 kilogrammes of highly enriched uranium per month, compared to 4.7 kilogrammes previously, added the report to the IAEA´s board of governors.

Uranium enriched to 60 percent brings it closer to the 90 percent needed to make a nuclear weapon. Iran denies it wants nuclear arms.

Speaking to AFP in Bahrain, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said Iran was sending a “clear message” after it was recently censured by the nuclear body´s board of governors.

“This is a clear message that they are responding to what they feel is pressure,” Grossi said on the sidelines of the Manama Dialogue conference.

Last month, Iran said it would launch “new and advanced” centrifuges in response to an IAEA resolution that censured Tehran for what the agency called lack of cooperation.

The censure motion brought by Britain, France, Germany, and the United States at the IAEA´s 35-nation board follows a similar one in June.