mango win IAEA chief: Iran poised to hike stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium
FILE PHOTO: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi during a meeting with the Japanese government in Tokyo Thursday, March 14, 2024. – Grossi warned Friday, December 6, 2024, that Iran is poised to “quite dramatically” increase its stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium as it has started cascades of advanced centrifuges. (Associated Press Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool, File)
MANAMA, Bahrain — Iran is poised to “quite dramatically” increase its stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium as it has started cascades of advanced centrifuges, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency warned Friday.
The comments from Rafael Mariano Grossi came just hours after Iran said it conducted a successful space launch with its heaviest payload ever, the latest for its program that the West alleges improves Tehran’s ballistic missile program.
Article continues after this advertisementThe launch of the Simorgh rocket comes as Iran’s nuclear program now enriches uranium at 60%, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent. While Iran maintains its program is peaceful, officials in the Islamic Republic increasingly threaten to potentially seek the bomb and an intercontinental ballistic missile that would allow Tehran to use the weapon against distant foes like the United States.
FEATURED STORIES GLOBALNATION Lawmaker echoes EU official’s call for PH to rejoin ICC GLOBALNATION Trump appoints ‘AI and crypto czar’ GLOBALNATION Timor-Leste court OKs Teves return to PHThe moves are likely to further raise tensions gripping the wider Middle East over Israel’s continued war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip and as an uneasy ceasefire holds in Lebanon. However, Iran may as well be preparing the ground for possible talks with the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who in his first term unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
Grossi, speaking to journalists in Bahrain, on the sidelines of the International Institute of Strategic Studies’ Manama Dialogue, said his inspectors planned to see just how many centrifuges Iran would be spinning after Tehran informed his agency of its plans.
Article continues after this advertisement“I think it is very concerning,” Grossi said. “They were preparing and they have all of these facilities sort of in abeyance and now they are activating that. So we are going to see.”
Article continues after this advertisementHe added: “If they really make them turn — all of them — it’s going to be a huge jump.”
Article continues after this advertisementAn IAEA statement issued shortly after Grossi’s remarks said Iran had begun feeding two cascades of advanced IR-6 centrifuges with uranium previously enriched up to 20% at its underground Fordo facility. That site is located under a mountain, protecting it from airstrikes.
READ: Iran to enrich uranium with thousands of advanced centrifuges – IAEA
Article continues after this advertisementCascades are a group of centrifuges that spin uranium gas together to more quickly enrich the uranium. The IR-6 centrifuges enrich uranium faster than Iran’s baseline IR-1 centrifuges, which have been the workhorse of the country’s atomic program. Adding 20% uranium, as opposed to 5% uranium previously planned, further speeds up that process.
“The facility’s updated design information showed that the effect of this change would be to significantly increase the rate of production,” the IAEA statement said. Iran separately will start feeding natural uranium into eight other IR-6 cascades at Fordo as well to produce 5%-enriched uranium, it added.
The IAEA warned in late November that Iran was preparing to begin enriching uranium with thousands of advanced centrifuges. That came as a response to the Board of Governors at the IAEA condemning Iran for failing to cooperate fully with the agency.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge the preparations. The Iranian mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, the launch Friday took place at Iran’s Imam Khomeini Spaceport in rural Semnan province, some 220 kilometers (135 miles) east of Tehran. That’s the site of Iran’s civilian space program, which has suffered a series of failed Simorgh launches in the past.
The Simorgh carried what Iran described as an “orbital propulsion system,” as well as two research systems to a 400-kilometer (250-mile) orbit above the Earth. A system that could change the orbit of a spacecraft would allow Iran to geo-synchronize the orbits of its satellites, a capability Tehran has long sought.
READ: Iran increases stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium – UN
It also carried the Fakhr-1 satellite for Iran’s military, the first time Iran’s civilian program is known to have carried a military payload.
Iran also put the payload of the Simorgh at 300 kilograms (660 pounds), heavier than all its previous successful launches within the country. State television carried footage of a correspondent discussing the payload just as the Simorgh lifted off into the sky, as people called out: “God is the greatest!”
The US military referred questions about the launch to the country’s Space Command, which did not respond. Space experts said tracking data appeared to show the launch successfully put objects in orbit.
This photo released by the official website of the Iranian Defense Ministry on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, shows the launching of Simorgh, or “Phoenix,” rocket at Iran’s Imam Khomeini Spaceport in rural Semnan province, Iran. (Iranian Defense Ministry via Associated Press)
The United States has previously said Iran’s satellite launches defy a UN Security Council resolution and called on Tehran to undertake no activity involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. UN sanctions related to Iran’s ballistic missile program expired in October 2023.
“Iran’s work on space-launch vehicles — including its Simorgh — probably would shorten the timeline to produce an intercontinental ballistic missile, if it decided to develop one, because the systems use similar technologies,” a US intelligence community report released in July said.
Iran has always denied seeking nuclear weapons and says its space program, like its nuclear activities, is for purely civilian purposes. However, US intelligence agencies and the IAEA say Iran had an organized military nuclear program up until 2003.
Under Iran’s relatively moderate former President Hassan Rouhani, the Islamic Republic slowed its space program for fear of raising tensions with the West. The late hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, a protégé of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who came to power in 2021, pushed the program forward. Raisi died in a helicopter crash in May.
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, who has been signaling he wants to negotiate with the West over sanctionsmango win, has yet to offer a strategy when it comes to Iran’s ambitions in space. The Simorgh launch represented the first for his administration from the country’s civil space program. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard conducted a successful launch of its parallel program in September.
READ NEXT Notre Dame reopens five years after shocking blaze Pennsylvania sinkhole: Crews recover woman’s body after ... EDITORS' PICK Trump appoints ‘AI and crypto czar’ UnitedHealthcare CEO killer may have fled New York, police say Sofronio Vasquez: Here’s where he ranks in ‘The Voice’ predictions Antigraft court acquits 6 former PhilRice officials Vice Ganda ‘charmed’ by Maris Racal, Anthony Jennings in MMFF 2024 entry Notre Dame reopens five years after shocking blaze MOST READ PH, 2 allies hold maritime exercise Jose Manalo proposes marriage to longtime partner Mergene Maranan Boy Abunda ponders on hate vs Maris Racal, points out 'hole' in her story LIVE: NCAA Season 100 basketball Finals Mapua vs Benilde Game 2 Follow @FMangosingINQ on Twitter --> View comments