Wall Street Journal Reports Iran Producing Advanced Centrifuge Components Beyond IAEA Monitoring

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing Western diplomats, that Iran has resumed production of “advanced centrifuge” components at a site that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been unable to monitor for months.

The Wall Street Journal described this development in its Tuesday report as a fresh challenge for U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration.

The newspaper writes that Iran’s new activity has raised concerns among Western diplomats. They say this measure could allow Iran to establish a secret nuclear weapons program if it decides to do so, and covertly employ centrifuge components in that direction. However, these diplomats also say that at this point there is no evidence that Iran has undertaken such action.

Nuclear negotiations between world powers and Iran to revive the JCPOA are set to resume on November 29 in Vienna. Iran and world powers held six rounds of nuclear negotiations in Vienna before Ibrahim Raisi came to power to return to JCPOA commitments.

These talks began after Joe Biden, following his victory in the U.S. presidential election and entry to the White House, announced that if Iran returns to its JCPOA commitments, the United States would also return to the agreement. Donald Trump, the former U.S. president, withdrew the United States from the nuclear agreement signed during Barack Obama’s administration and reimposed strict sanctions against Iran.

Iran says it seeks guarantees from the Biden administration that Washington will not withdraw from this agreement again. The Biden administration says it cannot provide such guarantees.

The Wall Street Journal reports in its article that Iran began limited work at a centrifuge component production site in a workshop in Karaj in late August and has expanded its production since then. Iran halted work at the Karaj facility following a sabotage operation involving an explosion. Tehran has held Israel responsible for that attack. Israel has not confirmed involvement in the sabotage.

One diplomat said that since late August, Iran has produced components for at least 170 centrifuges. Centrifuges are used for uranium enrichment. Uranium enrichment at 90 percent purity is used for manufacturing nuclear weapons.

Source: Voice of America