(Bloomberg) — Iran’s nuclear fuel levels have risen in the past three months, the U.N. watchdog says, raising tensions and threatening a regional war.
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Monitors at the International Atomic Energy Agency reported Thursday that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium increased 16% between June and August, according to a 13-page confidential report circulated to diplomats and seen by Bloomberg. That’s enough to fuel a handful of nuclear warheads, should Iran make a political decision to pursue weapons.
“The continued production and accumulation of highly enriched uranium by Iran, the only non-nuclear-weapon country to do so, adds to the agency’s concerns,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in the report, also noting that the country continues to block monitoring.
The IAEA safeguards report is the first since Iran’s new President Masoud Pezeshkian was elected in July. The reformist leader has said he is eager to revive diplomacy over the country’s nuclear work, even as Middle East observers express concern about a potential military conflict with Israel.
Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas and tit-for-tat missile attacks with Tehran-backed Hezbollah have added urgency to the IAEA’s years-long probe into the extent of Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Concerns about a regional war grew after the Islamic Republic blamed Israel for the July 31 assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and vowed revenge. Israel has not accepted responsibility for the killing.
While the IAEA conducts daily inspections of declared nuclear facilities, suspicions persist over whether Iranian engineers could be concealing work for military purposes. Tehran has blocked the agency’s investigation into uranium particles detected at undeclared sites.
While Iran insists it does not want to produce nuclear weapons, international distrust led to a negotiated compromise in 2015 that limited nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions. Recent statements by current and former Iranian officials that the country could revise its nuclear doctrine — and possibly build a weapon — prompted Grossi to make renewed diplomatic efforts during a visit earlier this month.
The IAEA report was released ahead of a Sept. 9 board meeting in Vienna, where Iran is facing mounting diplomatic pressure to cooperate with inspectors. The board issued a resolution of censure against Iran in June, a move that could eventually lead to a referral to the U.N. Security Council for further action.
Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched to 60% purity levels — a level indistinguishable from weapons-grade fuel — rose to 165 kilograms from 142 kilograms in June, IAEA inspectors found. Stockpiles of 20% enriched fuel grew to 814 kilograms from 751 kilograms.
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