Shortly after having won the fight -for now- against the internal protest, which resulted in thousands of arrests and a handful of executions, the Iranian regime is preparing to wage another battle against the international community, this time around one of its objectives. most precious: becoming a nuclear power.
A leak from the inspectors of the UN nuclear agency (IAEA, International Atomic Energy Agency) has revealed that Iran has obtained 84 percent purity uranium enrichment in one of its nuclear plants, when for its civil needs it is not necessary to exceed 60 percent. The enrichment rate required to obtain the atomic weapon is around 90 percent.
The information was released on Sunday by the Bloomberg news agency, with the consequent official anger from the IAEA and the announcement that it is trying to clarify with the authorities of the fundamentalist Shiite regime what the discovery of its agents is due to.
In 2015, Iran reached an agreement with the main powers – sponsored by the UN – in which it promised not to seek a nuclear weapon in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions on Tehran. In 2018, the Government of Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from that pact, and the Biden Administration has done nothing to return to it. However, Iran’s commitment to the rest of the countries and to the UN remains valid.
uranium enrichment
The spokesman for Iran’s atomic energy agency, Behrouz Kamalvandi, has told international news agencies that “up to now we have not made any attempt to exceed 60 percent uranium enrichment; the presence of particles above that figure does not imply a production process. In other words, Tehran hides behind the fact that one swallow does not make a summer, but confirms the leak from the UN body.
According to advance by Bloomberg, the UN inspectors are focused on determining whether the 84 percent purity has been obtained intentionally or is the product of an accumulation within the network of pipes that connect the hundreds of centrifuges used to separate the isotopes. Tehran had previously informed the IAEA that its centrifuges were set to enrich uranium to a 60 percent purity level.
The leak occurs at a delicate time. After months of protests in the streets of Iran, triggered by the death of a young woman who did not wear the Islamic headscarf “correctly” but also had other social and economic causes, the fundamentalist regime urgently needs to improve its financial health. On the other hand, his willingness to sell arms and ammunition to Russia, to strengthen the alliance with Putin and in the process make cash, may bring him more problems. The foreign ministers of the European Union meet today to discuss, among other issues, possible sanctions against Iran for its support for Russia in the war in Ukraine.
