Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

IAEA: Iran enriched uranium up to 63 percent purity

A confidential report notes “fluctuations of the enrichment levels,” though does not explain the cause.

The Iran nuclear program's heavy-water reactor at Arak. Credit: Nanking 2012 via Wikimedia Commons.
The Iran nuclear program’s heavy-water reactor at Arak. Credit: Nanking 2012 via Wikimedia Commons.

A confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Tuesday that Iran has enriched uranium up to 63 percent purity, more than the previously announced 60 percent.

“According to Iran, fluctuations of the enrichment levels ... were experienced,” the IAEA stated in the report shown to Reuters.

“The agency’s analysis of the ES [environmental samples] taken on April 22, 2021, shows an enrichment level of up to 63 percent U-235, which is consistent with the fluctuations of the enrichment levels” described by Iran, it stated without explaining the cause of the fluctuations.

This comes as Iran holds indirect talks with the United States to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, which limited Tehran from enriching higher than 3.67 percent. Ninety percent is needed to reach weapons-grade fissile purity.

The IAEA confirmed last month that Iran had begun the process of enriching uranium to a purity level of 60 percent.

Anti-Zionism has become a “cultural norm,” Yonathan Arfi tells JNS.
Imad Hassan Hussein Aslim commanded the Zeitoun Battalion’s infiltration into Israel during the Oct. 7 slaughter.
“This is what antisemitism looks like when people get comfortable,” said an Arizona state representative, who sits on the same school board. “This is what hatred looks like when it finds a seat at the table.”
“No student in Nebraska should ever have to hide their faith, their heritage or who they are out of fear,” Jim Pillen said.
“Congregations have to consider the unthinkable and prepare for the worst,” Sen Rick Scott said, noting a nearly 900% increase in Jew-hatred nationally over the last decade.
“The secretary reaffirmed that the U.S. fully supports the government of Lebanon as it works to seize a historic opportunity to deliver peace,” said State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott.