Alarming New Watchdog Report Issued On Iran’s Nuclear Program

A new and alarming report from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, reveals that Iran has increased its storage of enriched uranium to almost weapons-grade levels.

“As of May 17, Iran has amassed 408.6 kilograms (900.8 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60%,” the Associated Press reported after seeing the confidential report. “That’s an increase of 133.8 kilograms (294.9 pounds) — or almost 50% — since the IAEA’s last report in February. The 60% enriched material is a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. A report in February put this stockpile level at 274.8 kilograms (605.8 pounds).”

The report warned that Iran is now “the only non-nuclear-weapon state to produce such material,” a “serious concern.”

In late January, IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi warned of Iran, “One thing is true: They have amassed enough nuclear material for several nuclear weapons, not one at this point.”

The IAEA, which hesitates to openly condemn Iran, also stated Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA had “been less than satisfactory” regarding uranium traces found by inspectors at several locations in Iran: Turquzabad, Varamin, and Marivan. Iran has never acknowledged those sites as nuclear sites.

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The IAEA concluded that evidence found at those sites “led the agency to conclude that these three locations, and other possible related locations, were part of an undeclared structured nuclear program carried out by Iran until the early 2000s and that some activities used undeclared nuclear material.”

Iran has been lying about its nuclear program for years. In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed that Iran had a clandestine nuclear warehouse at Turquzabad. Iran denied the charge, but the next year, IAEA inspectors detected the presence of uranium there.

Saturday, in a rare statement on the Jewish Sabbath, Netanyahu responded to the new report, saying, “Iran is totally determined to complete its nuclear program.” He added that the new report “strongly reinforces what Israel has been saying for years — the purpose of Iran’s nuclear program is not peaceful. … The international community must act now to stop Iran.”

“The level of uranium enrichment Iran has reached exists only in countries actively pursuing nuclear weapons and has no civilian justification whatsoever,” he pointed out.

“Analysts point to what happened with North Korea, which had reached a 1994 deal with the U.S. to abandon its nuclear weapons program,” AP reported in January. “The deal fell apart in 2002. By 2005 and wary of U.S. intentions after its invasion of Iraq, Pyongyang announced it had built nuclear weapons. Today, North Korea has ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads that are capable of reaching the U.S.”