Iran announces the start of production of enriched uranium by 20 percent

Spokesman for the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, Behrouz Kamalondi, announced that his country has begun producing enriched uranium by 20 percent since Monday’s evening.

“As of midnight, the production process has become completely stable, which means pumping uranium up to 4 percent into centrifuges and obtaining 20 percent of enriched uranium,” Kamalondi said in statements to Iranian television broadcasted today.

Kamalondi stressed that the Energy Organization applies what was previously approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly in Iran by raising the level of enrichment and storing 120 kg of this level annually.

On Monday, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei confirmed the start of the procedures for enriching uranium by 20 percent at the Fordo facility.

The Iranian assistant foreign minister for political affairs, Abbas Araqji, asserted that resuming the enrichment process of 20 percent is legal under the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the safeguards treaty, as well as under the nuclear agreement, indicating that the International Atomic Energy Agency was informed of this.

Inas Abdulkareem