DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian state television offered a broad defense on Friday against accusations by international inspectors that it enriched uranium to 84% purity. An official said the claim was part of a “plot” against Tehran amid tensions over its nuclear program.
Statements by Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesperson for Iran’s civilian nuclear program, attempted to present any detection of uranium particles enriched to this level as a momentary side effect in the process of obtaining a final product of 60%, which the Islamic Republic has already announced it is producing.
However, 84% uranium is close to the 90% purity needed to make a nuclear weapon, meaning any stockpile of this material could quickly be used to make an atomic bomb if Iran wanted it. Tehran has insisted for years that its program is for peaceful purposes, although the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Western intelligence agencies and non-proliferation experts say Iran had a secret nuclear weapons program until 2003.
The allegation that IAEA inspectors have found 84% enriched uranium threatens to further escalate tension between Iran and the West. Benjamin Netanyahu, who recently regained the post of Prime Minister of Israel, has already threatened military action against Tehran.
The Bloomberg news agency first reported on Sunday that inspectors from the United Nations nuclear agency had detected particles of uranium enriched up to 84%. The Vienna-based entity did not deny the information and limited itself to saying that “the IAEA is discussing with Iran the results of the agency’s recent verification activities”.
In an interview with Iran’s English-language public broadcaster, Press TV, Kamalvandi played down that inspectors might have found “a particle of an atom that cannot be seen even under a microscope.” Furthermore, he indicated that the Iranian uranium centrifuge cascades produce particles with a variable level of purity for a final product of 60%.
“It doesn’t matter because the end product is what matters,” Kamalvandi said. “If we really want to enrich 20% more, we will announce it very easily. So it’s clear there’s a conspiracy here.”
The 2015 agreement between Tehran and the nuclear powers limited Iran’s enrichment capacity to 3.67%, enough to power a nuclear power plant. The United States unilaterally left the pact in 2018. Since then, the Islamic Republic and Israel have waged a covert war across the Middle East.
Iran now produces enriched uranium at 60% purity, a level that nuclear non-proliferation experts say is of no civilian use to Tehran.