MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th November, 2019) Special assistant to the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Asghar Zarean announced on Friday that Iran's uranium enrichment capacity hit 8,660 Separative Work Units (SWUs), adding that it will reach 11,000 in the next few days, surpassing the country's capacity before the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) deal.
"Iran's enriched uranium stock has reached over 500 kilograms and this important [capacity] is being increased. It will reach around 11,000 SWUs within the next days," Zarean said in an interview with the Islamic Republic news Agency, as quoted by the Iranian broadcaster, PressTV.
The AEOI official added that before the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was signed, Iran produced 450 grams of enriched uranium a day, however, currently the country produces 5,000 grams a day.
On November 7, Tehran began enriching uranium at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant as part of the fourth stage of reducing its obligations under the JCPOA. By some assessments, Iran's enrichment capacity before the deal was around 10,000 SWUs.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, was signed in 2015 by Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union. It required Iran to scale back its nuclear program and severely downgrade its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief.
In May of 2018, the United States withdrew from the deal and reimposed economic sanctions on Iran. Roughly a year later, Tehran responded by warning that it would steadily abandon its own JCPOA obligations every 60 days unless the other signatories attempted to save the accord by facilitating oil exports and trade with Iran. It has since been gradually following through on its warnings.
