‘Joint Plan of Action’ Goes Into Effect Today

Iran stopped production of uranium enriched to 20 percent purity, its most sensitive nuclear work, today. The IAEA conformed the stoppage and the U.S. and the EU began to ease sanctions on the country. 

The State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki called today’s development “an unprecedented opportunity” to resolve global concerns over Iran’s nuclear program.

Secretary of State John Kerry approved a waiver to eliminate sanctions identified in Geneva’s Joint Plan of Action signed by Iran and six major powers on November 24. 

The accord gives the two sides six months to work out a final comprehensive agreement on the country’s nuclear program.

Report on Iran Halting Production of 20% Uranium Not Verified – IAEA Diplomats

Diplomats at IAEA told Reuters today they had no information to substantiate a report by a member of Iran’s parliament that the country has halted its 20-percent uranium enrichment program.

On Wednesday, Iranian MP Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, deputy chairman of Majlis’ National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said Iran has stopped the enrichment of uranium at 20-percent level. “There is no need for more production,” he added. He also said that Iran is ready to convert its current stockpile of 20-percent enriched uranium to fuel rods for its research reactor.

If the report were true, it meant Iran had halted its most sensitive nuclear activity before reaching any agreement with P5+1 on the future of its nuclear program

An envoy in Vienna headquarters of IAEA told Reuters that he believed Iran was continuing to refine uranium to the 20 percent threshold.

The IAEA, which regularly inspects Iranian nuclear sites, has declined to comment on the issue. But several other diplomats from member states said they were not aware of any such move by Iran either. (Reuters, 25 October)

Iran Has Suspended Enrichment of 20% Uranium - MP

Mohammad Hassan Asafari, a member of the national security committee of Majlis, the Iranian parliament, said today that Iran has “suspended enrichment of uranium of 20 percent purity” as a measure of confidence building and good will toward the West, and in turn expects the sanctions to be lifted immediately. (ISNA, 3 November)

Note: No other Iranian official has yet confirmed Mr. Asfari’s account.

Iran Renews Call for Nuclear Swap Deal

Iran said today that it is still willing to implement a swap deal worked out with France and Brazil last year to ship its low-enriched uranium to France in exchange for 20-percent enriched nuclear fuel rods for its medical research reactor. The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said Iran would expand its uranium enrichment program if the nuclear swap deal falls through.

“We will not only continue to do the enrichment by ourselves but also build a factory for manufacturing even the fuel rods by ourselves,” Ramin Mehmanparast said.

Mehmanparast added that Iran would halt its 20-percent enrichment if the swap were approved.

“As the 20 percent enrichment process is not even economical for us, we would be willing to halt this process and get the necessary fuel for the Tehran reactor from abroad,” Mehmanparast said.

The West has said in the past that Iran’s proposal does not go far enough, leaving most of the already enriched uranium inside the country and does not halt the enrichment process.

Ahmadinejad Seeking Compromise on Uranium Enrichment

Iran Ready to Purchase 20 Percent Uranium from the West

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has criticized Western countries for politicizing the country's nuclear program, while reiterating Iran’s 2009 offer to stop enriching uranium to 20 percent level if the West were willing to sell Iran the enriched uranium.

“Iran's nuclear program, which is a legal issue, has been turned into a political one by certain Western countries,” said Ahmadinejad in a meeting with Associated Press chief editors in New York on Friday [Press TV, 24 September].

Ahmadinejad added that Iran was willing to negotiate a solution to the nuclear impasse. In recent interviews with the New York Times and the Washington Post, Ahmadinejad has raised the prospect of stopping enriching uranium to 20 percent purity.

In an interview with Nicholas Kristof of New York Times during his recent visit to New York, Ahmadinejad made an unambiguous offer to the West.

“If they (the West) were willing to sell us the 20 percent enriched uranium, we would have preferred to buy it,” Ahmadinejad said. “It would have been far less expensive. It’s as though you wish to purchase a vehicle for yourself. No one is willing to sell it to you, then you must set up your own production line to produce your own vehicle,” he added [New York Times, 21 September].

Ahmadinejad had made similar offer during an interview in Tehran on 13 September with Lally Weymouth of Washington Post.

“For power stations, we need uranium of 3.5 percent and we are producing that fuel. For the Tehran Reactor we need uranium grade of 20 percent and we are producing that. We have no other requirements. Of course at the beginning we had no interest to produce uranium grade 20 percent. But the West refrained from giving us that uranium, so we had to start producing uranium grade 20 percent.

“Even if they gave us now uranium grade 20 percent, we would not continue with the production of this fuel,” Ahmadinejad said. “We don't want to produce uranium of 20 percent. Because they did not give us that uranium, we had to make our own investments. If they start to give us that uranium today, we will stop production.” [Washington Post, 13 September].

President Ahmadinejad had made a similar offer in 2009 only to be rejected by the supreme leader and the hardliners inside Iran. It was not clear whether this time he had cleared the offer with the supreme leader and had his support and approval.

Iran Produces Uranium Fuel Rods

Acting Foreign Minister and Director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi announced today that Iran has successfully produced uranium fuel rods and plates at its Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) in Isfahan.

Until now, the main activity at Isfahan UCF was the conversion of yellowcake into uranium hexafluoride, UF6. (The UF6 is used as the feed for centrifuges in Natanz to produce enriched uranium). The production of fuel rod, fuel assembly and fuel plate in the country are major advancements toward acquiring the complete nuclear fuel cycle. The 20%-enriched uranium rods will be used in Tehran’s research reactor. Highly enriched uranium rods are used in nuclear weapons.

Salehi also announced that Iran’s stockpile of 20% enriched uranium has increased to 40kg, a 30% increase in the past three months. (In early October, Salehi had reported that Iran’s inventory of 20% enriched uranium was at 30kg).

Iran Doubles Stockpile of 20-Percent Enriched Uranium – Will Produce Fuel Rod Within a Year

Iran announced today it has nearly doubled its stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium within the past four months. The country now has some 30 kilograms, or 66 pounds, of the 20-percent grade enriched uranium, as opposed to only 17 kilograms in June. Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi made the announcement in Tehran.

Iran’s refusal to stop enriching uranium has subjected the country to four sets of UN sanctions, as well additional economic and financial sanctions imposed by the US, the EU and other pro-Western countries.

The next step for Iran is converting the 20-percent enriched uranium into fuel rods for use at its research reactor in Tehran. Iran claims it has the technology to produce fuel rods, a capability very few nations possess. The government has said its first fuel rod should be ready within a year.

The technologies to produce high-percentage enriched uranium and fuel rods are at the heart of a country’s capability to produce nuclear weapons. But Iran has repeatedly denied it intends to produce the bomb.

Iran’s Uranium Enrichment, Ctd

Iran said it has produced more than 17 kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium and is capable of adding some 5 kilograms a month. Ali Akbar Salehi, director of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, announced the news in Tehran.

"We have so far produced more than 17 kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium and we can potentially produce five kilograms per month," Salehi said [ISNA, 24 June].

Salehi had previously announced that Iran had acquired the necessary technical expertise to convert the 20 percent enriched uranium into fuel plates required to power reactors [ISNA, 16 June].

The enrichment announcement represents a defiance of the UN Security Council resolution calling on Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities.

Brazil that had helped brokered an agreement with Iran to send its LEU to Turkey in return for the reactor fuel; today issued a word of caution to Iran. The Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, on a visit to Bulgaria, said there were concerns over Iran’s nuclear program by the Vienna Group over the Tehran Agreement and “now it is up to Iran to react to these” [AFP, 24 June].

Iran to Announce Nuclear Advancement

Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization announced today that it will unveil nuclear achievements at its research reactor in Tehran. Last February, the agency had announced that it had started enriching uranium to 20 percent purity to fuel the reactor.

On 16 May, Iran signed an agreement with Turkey and Brazil to swap its low enriched uranium for the 20 percent fuel needed for its research reactor. It was not clear if the expected announcement would confirm that Iran has produced enough fuel on its own to run its reactor.

UPDATE: Iran’s atomic energy chief says Iran will begin construction of a new uranium enrichment plant by March of next year.

IAEA Report on Iran

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in its latest report on Iran's nuclear program, said Iran has already produced at least 5.7 kg (12.5 pounds) of higher (20 percent) enriched uranium using its LEU produced in Natanz [AFP, 31 May].

“On April 7, 2010, Iran withdrew 5.7 kilograms of UF6 (uranium hexafluoride) from the first cascade” in Natanz, the report said. “According to Iran, this UF6 was enriched to 19.7 percent."

The real amount of higher-enriched uranium produced is expected to be more by now, as the 5.7 kg was produced in early April, with 100 grams per day produced on daily basis [AFP, 31 May].

IAEA’s report also raises concern that the Iranian program might have a military component.

"Based on an overall analysis of all the information available, the agency remains concerned about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed nuclear related activities, involving military related organizations,” the reports said. [Some of those activities] “were related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile. There are indications that certain of these activities may have continued beyond 2004."

IAEA will be referring its report to the UN Security Council for consideration. UNSC is expected to approve a fourth round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.

Iran Makes First Batch of 20-Percent Uranium

President Ahmadinejad Addressing Tehran's Rally

Marking the Anniversary of Revolution. 11 February 2010. ISNA

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Thursday that Iran has produced its first batch of 20-percent enriched uranium just two days after beginning the process.

Ahmadinejad made the announcement in front of hundreds of thousands of cheering Iranians gathered in Tehran’s Azadi Square to mark the 31^st anniversary of the revolution.

Iran to Produce 20% Enriched Uranium - Ahmadinejad

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today that the government would announce “good” news regarding the enrichment of uranium to 20% purity during the celebrations of the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in February.

"During the 10 Days of Dawn (February 1 to 11) we will announce good news regarding the production of 20 percent enriched fuel in our country.

"This news is so sweet that it will make any Iranian and any freedom loving person in the world happy. This news is about Iran's scientific advancement," Ahmadinejad said [Fars News Agency, 24 January].