MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th March, 2021) Iran began enriching uranium with a third cascade of advanced IR-2M centrifuges at its underground plant in Natanz, Reuters reported citing a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The IAEA said that the fourth cascade of 174 IR-2M centrifuges had been mounted, but had yet to be fed with natural uranium hexafluoride.
It said the installation of the fifth cascade was under way, and the process to mount a sixth set of the centrifuges was yet to start.
Iran in 2019 - exactly one year after the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal - announced a phased reduction of its obligations under the agreement, abandoning restrictions in nuclear research, centrifuges, and the level of uranium enrichment.
At the end of 2020, Iran adopted a law on strategic measures to lift sanctions, which involves the intensification of nuclear activities in order to achieve the lifting of sanctions against the country. In line with the law, Iranian nuclear scientists have already brought uranium enrichment to the level of 20 percent, and also limited the IAEA's inspection capabilities from February 23, 2021.
The law also stipulates the use of new generations of centrifuges within three months: 1,000 IR-2M centrifuges and at least 174 IR-6 centrifuges. The number of the latter must increase to 1,000 in one year. At the same time, the nuclear deal envisions only the use of the first generation IR-1 centrifuges and uranium enrichment at the level of 3.67 percent.
