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IAEA chief to visit Iran as Tehran steps up nuclear activity

Iran is now enriching uranium to up to 60% fissile purity

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International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi is scheduled to discuss Iran's disputed nuclear programme in Tehran on Thursday. — Reuters

By Reuters

Published: Sun 10 Nov 2024, 3:36 PM

Last updated: Sun 10 Nov 2024, 3:37 PM

UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi will visit Iran next Wednesday and start consultations with Iranian officials the following day, state media reported on Sunday.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Wednesday he might head to Iran in the coming days to discuss its disputed nuclear programme and that he expected to work cooperatively with US president-elect Donald Trump.

Long-standing issues between Iran, the IAEA, and Western powers include Tehran barring uranium-enrichment experts from IAEA inspection teams in the country and its failure for years to explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites.

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Iran has also stepped up nuclear activity since 2019, after then-president Trump abandoned a 2015 deal Iran reached with world powers under which it curbed enrichment — seen by the West as a disguised effort to develop nuclear weapons capability — and restored tough US sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Tehran is now enriching uranium to up to 60 per cent fissile purity, close to the roughly 90 per cent required for an atom bomb. It has enough higher-enriched uranium to produce about four nuclear bombs, if refined further, according to an IAEA yardstick.

Iran has long denied any nuclear bomb ambitions, saying it is enriching uranium for civilian energy uses only.

Reuters

Published: Sun 10 Nov 2024, 3:36 PM

Last updated: Sun 10 Nov 2024, 3:37 PM

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