Speaking to members of the European Parliament’s security and defense subcommittee in Brussels on Tuesday, Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the Islamic Republic had accumulated 70 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity, with another 1,000 kilograms of enriched up to 20 percent purity, which is “at the moment enough nuclear material for not one but several nuclear weapons”.
The threshold for making nuclear weapons is considered to be 90 percent purity. But Grossi told the panel that Iran’s huge stockpile of enriched uranium does not mean it has nuclear weapons.
Grossi also said the IAEA is no longer monitoring Iran’s nuclear program, as the regime has turned off the agency’s 27 cameras installed at designated nuclear sites.
Iran and six world powers, including Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that curbed Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from US and international sanctions.
The U.S. withdrew from the deal in 2018 under former President Donald Trump, who argued the plan was ineffective and imposed a so-called “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran, which limited Iran’s ability to sell oil on international markets.
The signatories have held several rounds of talks since 2021 with the aim of reviving the original agreement.
