Iran reverses enrichment slowdown, inches closer to weapons-grade uranium: report

Iran has ratcheted up its production of near weapons grade uranium following an ominous threat of retaliation from Tehran amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

A UN nuclear watchdog said Tuesday that “in recent weeks” the Persian Gulf nation has reversed what had been a lengthy slowdown of enrichment that began last summer.

Iran has already enriched uranium to 60% purity, and it has enough of the substance to construct three nuclear bombs, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The watchdog report came days after Iran said Israel would “pay the price” for an airstrike in Syria that took out a top commander.

Diplomats believe that Iran had initially slowed down the process starting in June because its representatives were secretly talking to the United States — negotiations that led to the release of US citizens held by Iran earlier this year.

In recent weeks, however, Iran has “increased its production of highly enriched uranium, reversing a previous output reduction from mid-2023”, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement that summarized a confidential report viewed by Reuters.

The country is moving toward the roughly 90% purity of weapons-grade uranium at two different enrichment plants.

When Iran had slowed down the process, it was only enriching about 3 kilograms per month to 60% — or just under seven pounds, according to the watchdog. But that’s jumped to about nine kilograms (or about 20 pounds) per month since the end of November.

By the agency’s definition, about 42 kilograms of enriched uranium is enough to make a nuclear bomb.

The watchdog’s inspectors first noticed the processing change at both facilities just after Thanksgiving, the report said. The production jumps come at a precarious time in the Middle East, which descended into conflict after Hamas’ early October assault on Israel.

Fears that the conflict could spread to other parts of the region were inflamed earlier this week when an Israeli airstrike in Syria killed a top Iranian commander — prompting Iran to rattle its saber and warn that Israel will “pay the price.”

“This act is a sign of the Zionist regime’s frustration and weakness in the region for which it will certainly pay the price,” Iranian leader Ebrahim Raisi said, according to a Reuters translation.

Iran has long been accused of backing the Palestinian terror organization and other US-designated terrorist groups in the region, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.

With Post wires