International inspectors this week found Iran has uranium enriched to 84% purity, just 6% below that needed to produce a nuclear weapon, Bloomberg News reported Sunday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency is preparing its quarterly report on Iran's nuclear program, and two monitors found the near-nuclear weapon capability — the highest found to date.
Iran had admitted to the IAEA only having its centrifuges set to enrich uranium to 60% of purity, but it is the second time investigators detected suspicious enrichment levels.
Diplomats note Iran has not filed to enrich to that 84% level discovered. And if it was a mistake due to technical difficulties, another diplomat noted, it shows the danger of Iran's program.
Nuclear reactors for energy mostly use uranium enriched at just 5%, so the high levels are virtually indistinguishable from those needed for nuclear weapons, according to the report.
Iran had expedited its enrichment of uranium after former President Donald Trump decertified the Iran nuclear deal signed under the Obama administration. President Joe Biden had sought to revisit a new nuclear deal with Iran, but the enrichment of uranium and other geopolitical transgressions have made it difficult and put talks on hold.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said the Obama-era nuclear deal is an "empty shell" and said Iran has plenty nuclear material to make several weapons should it publicly reveal the desire to do so, Bloomberg reported.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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