Part of Iran’s 60% Enriched Uranium Cannot Be Easily Recovered

Reuters reported based on a confidential document that Iran has converted part of its 60% enriched uranium in a way that is not easily recoverable, dilutable, or transferable abroad, and this move has made returning to the 2015 nuclear agreement more difficult.

The Reuters news agency, citing a confidential report from the International Atomic Energy Agency, wrote that the Islamic Republic has converted part of its 60% enriched uranium in a form that is not easily dilutable, recoverable, or transferable out of the country.

Reuters wrote that it is unlikely this measure will derail indirect negotiations between Iran and the United States to revive the JCPOA, but Iran’s action has made the conditions for returning to the 2015 agreement more difficult and has challenged European and American parties.

The United States, France, Britain, and Germany, which are parties to nuclear negotiations with Iran, in a joint statement released last Tuesday, had asked Iran to “refrain from any escalation of new tensions” and “immediately halt all activities related to the conversion of highly enriched uranium (60%) which will have practical consequences for returning to JCPOA restrictions”.

The JCPOA agreement obliges Iran not to enrich its uranium reserves beyond 3.67%. While according to the latest report by Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has enriched close to 33 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium, which is very close to the 90% enrichment level. 90% enriched uranium is used for producing nuclear bombs.

Reuters reported that the Agency had previously reported to the Board of Governors that Iran had converted all its 60% enriched uranium reserves into uranium hexafluoride gas form, which has the capability to be re-diluted to the 3.67% level, but between March 6 and 15, it converted more than 2.6 kilograms of its 60% enriched uranium reserves into another form of uranium with the same concentration level.

This form of uranium is radioactive and produces Molybdenum-99. This isotope is widely used in medical imaging. The uranium remaining from this process is recoverable at the 60% level.

This news is being published as Iran has repeatedly stated over months of negotiations with Western parties that it has come close to an agreement, but significant points of disagreement still exist to revive the JCPOA. In his latest position, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s Foreign Minister, said: “We had four issues as our red lines. Of these four issues, two have been resolved but two remain, including economic guarantees.”

He also said that if the American side meets Iran’s two demands, an agreement can be reached quickly. JCPOA negotiations faced great difficulties with Russia’s condition that sanctions against that country would not affect Russia’s commercial and financial relations with Iran.

This prompted Iran’s Foreign Minister to travel to Moscow on Tuesday, March 15 (Esfand 24) to meet and discuss with Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister. After this meeting, Russia announced that it had received written assurances from the United States that new sanctions against Russia would not prevent cooperation within the framework of Iran’s nuclear agreement.

Following Lavrov’s remarks, Reuters reported, citing a senior U.S. State Department official, that the United States continues to cooperate with Russia in the direction of reviving the JCPOA and Washington will not sanction Russia’s participation in nuclear projects that are part of the JCPOA agreement, provided that the JCPOA is fully implemented. This U.S. State Department official nonetheless emphasized that his country cannot provide Russia guarantees beyond this.

However, some U.S. officials have said they will not allow Moscow to circumvent recent American sanctions against Russia through the JCPOA. Also, 49 of 50 U.S. Republican senators on Monday, March 14, said they “will not support” a new nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers.

These senators said they will do “everything in their power” to invalidate an agreement that “does not completely block” the Iranian government’s capability to produce nuclear weapons, “does not restrict the ballistic missile program,” and “does not prevent Islamic Republic support for terrorism”.

Source: DW