On Monday, the US State Department urged Iran to “stop its nuclear escalation” and “return to the negotiating table” to comply with the 2015 nuclear agreement.
The US Department’s statement came after a report issued, Monday, by the United Nations Atomic Energy Agency, submitted to member states, on Monday, and seen by Reuters, that Iran has made progress in its work on enriched uranium metal, despite Western warnings that such action threatens talks. on reviving the Iran nuclear deal.
In its report, it said: “On August 14, 2021, the Agency verified … that Iran used 257 grams of uranium enriched to up to 20 percent U-235 in the form of UF4 (uranium tetrafluoride) to produce 200 grams of enriched uranium metal. with up to 20 percent uranium (U-35).
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that this was the third step in a four-step plan by Iran. The fourth includes the production of a fuel plate for the reactor.
Iran’s production of enriched uranium has angered countries around the world, because this technology and knowledge of how to produce it can be used to make the core of a nuclear bomb. While Iran insists that its aims are entirely peaceful and that it is developing a new type of reactor fuel.
“Iran has no real need to produce uranium metal, which is directly related to the development of nuclear weapons,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
