Iran close to making nuclear bomb
The International Atomic Energy Agency - better known as the IAEA - issued a report on Wednesday 16 March showing that Iran is defying Western powers by converting some of the country's enriched uranium to a level needed to make nuclear weapons.
The news comes shortly after the United States will consider removing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard from the blacklist of foreign terrorist organisations. This proposal was made in exchange for Tehran's guarantee to halt nuclear enrichment.
Iran's latest nuclear actions will not put an end to indirect negotiations between Washington and Tehran's offices aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal. However, these talks have become muddied when it comes to making new agreements between the different countries, which could lead to a return of restrictions on Iran's enriched uranium stockpiles.
In response, France, Britain and Germany, US allies involved in the talks, issued a joint statement on Tuesday calling on Iran to halt the conversion of enriched uranium. The communiqué from the three countries "strongly urged Iran to avoid any further escalation". They also warned Tehran that its actions will have "real repercussions in returning to the limits of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action".
The new nuclear deal, which diplomats from both countries say is nearing completion, would require Iran to dispose of its stockpile of uranium enriched above the 3.67% purity level permitted by the nuclear deal. At present, the highest grade of enriched uranium in Iran is around 60 %, close to the 90 % needed to make nuclear weapons.
Before the report by the International Atomic Energy Agency was published, 60% of enriched uranium was in the form of uranium hexafluoride. This substance can be used to feed enrichment centrifuges. Moreover, it can be easily diluted and transferred.
According to a brief statement by the International Atomic Energy Agency, on 6 and 9 March, the agency verified that Iran had converted 2.1 kg of uranium, with 60% enrichment, into 1.7% kg of a different body enriched to the same level. This amount is perfect for carrying out small "targets" for the radiation blast.
This report also showed that Tehran had made some 32 targets containing a total of 186.7 grams of enriched uranium, and detailed that Iran had later reported that all of them had been exposed to radiation.
In recent days, Iranian and US diplomats had indicated that talks to return to the 2015 nuclear deal were positive and that they were "close" to reaching a possible understanding.
These statements come a week after Russia imposed new demands for a US return to the 2015 pact that appeared to jeopardise the talks in Vienna. However, after this week's meetings, indications emerged that a deal is close to being done.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said the nuclear powers were "close to a possible agreement" but had not yet "communicated" it. He also reported that there was "very little time left in view of the nuclear progress Tehran has made" on nuclear weapons development, calling the situation "something that needs to be resolved right away".
When Price was asked about his views on the "two problems" that the Iranian government says remain to be resolved for the US to return to the 2015 deal, he declined to confirm whether the proposals referred to guarantees required by Iran - including in the event of a change of government in the US - as well as the removal of the Revolutionary Guard from the US blacklist.
A source close to Washington confirmed to the online newspaper Al-Arab that the Biden administration had not yet decided on what would be an acceptable compromise in exchange for removing the Revolutionary Guard from the blacklist. But according to the source, who decided to remain anonymous, the US president is considering cancelling the terrorist designation, "in exchange for some kind of commitment or steps by Iran related to regional or other activities of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard".