Iran has started enriching uranium to 20 percent at the Fordow nuclear facility, government spokesman Ali Rabiei said on Monday
TEHRAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th January, 2021) Iran has started enriching uranium to 20 percent at the Fordow nuclear facility, government spokesman Ali Rabiei said on Monday.
In December, Iran passed a law to increase its uranium enrichment and stop UN inspections of its nuclear sites in response to the killing of nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
"A few days earlier, the Iranian president ordered the start of [uranium] enrichment at the level of 20 percent. A few hours earlier, after a series of preliminary measures ... the process of supplying UF6 gas (uranium hexafluoride) began. The first product will be received in a few hours," the government said in a statement citing Rabiei.
The law also prescribes the use of new generation centrifuges within the next three months, including 1,000 IR-2M centrifuges and at least 174 IR-6 centrifuges with the outlook to increase their number to 1,000 by the year-end.
At the same time, the Iran nuclear deal, signed in 2015, only prescribes the use of the first generation IR-1 centrifuges and uranium enrichment at the level of 3.67 percent.
In 2015, Iran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the EU. It required Iran to scale back its nuclear program and severely downgrade its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief, including lifting the arms embargo five years after the deal's adoption. In 2018, the US abandoned its conciliatory stance on Iran, withdrawing from the JCPOA and implementing hard-line policies against Tehran.
