Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami boasted Saturday that the Islamic republic has enriched more than 120 kilograms of 20% enriched uranium, making significant progress for the country's hight controversial nuclear program.
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"We have passed 120 kilograms. We have more than that figure," he told the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. "Our people know well that they [Western powers] were meant to give us the enriched fuel at 20% to use in the Tehran reactor, but they haven't done so. If our colleagues do not do it, we would naturally have problems with the lack of fuel for the Tehran reactor."
Eslami reiterated that Tehran's nuclear program was for peaceful purposes and stressed that Iran was only looking after its "national interests."
Israel insists Iran still maintains the ambition of developing nuclear weapons, pointing to Tehran's ballistic missile program and research into other technologies. As the ayatollahs' regime makes constant threats to annihilate the Jewish state, Israel sees Iran's nuclear ambitions as an existential threat. Jerusalem has warned that it will not abide a nuclear Iran, and US President Joe Biden has vowed his administration will not allow Tehran to possess military nuclear capabilities.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported last month that Iran had 84.3 kilograms of uranium enriched to 20%.
The Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news website cited experts at the Institute for Science and International Security as saying that Iran now has the capability to produce enough fuel needed for a single nuclear warhead within one month.
Under the abandoned 2015 nuclear deal, Iran was only allowed to enrich uranium up to 3.67%, way below the 90% required for weapons-grade uranium.
Meanwhile, the effort to resume talks seeking to hammer out a new nuclear deal has stalled, with Iran demanding the US unfreeze assets to the tune of $10 billion as a precondition to the negotiations.
Washington has warned that its patience was wearing thin with Tehran, but while officials at the Biden administration said that was a "Plan B" to deal with the rogue regime, they did not elaborate.
Eslami, a 64-year-old civil engineer who previously oversaw the country's road network, has been sanctioned by the United Nations for "being engaged in, directly associated with or providing support for Iran's proliferation of sensitive nuclear activities or for the development of nuclear weapon delivery systems."
The UN linked the blacklisting to his "involvement in procurement of prohibited items, goods, equipment, materials and technology," without elaborating.
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