Iran is poised to significantly increase its production rate of highly enriched uranium, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned in a confidential report.
The IAEA report said the effect of the change "would be to significantly increase the production rate of enriched uranium by up to 60 percent," according to news agencies on Dec. 6.
That means the production rate will jump to more than 34 kilograms of highly enriched uranium per month at the Fordov facility alone, compared to the previous 4,7 kilograms, according to a report by the IAEA's board of governors.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, speaking to reporters about the report on the sidelines of an international conference in Bahrain, said the increase would be "seven or eight times or even more", calling the development very worrying.
"They have been preparing, and they have all these facilities kind of dormant and now they are activating it. So we will see," he said, adding that it would be a "big leap" if Iran starts increasing its enrichment.
The report also said that Iran must implement stricter safeguards such as inspections to ensure that Fordov is not "misused to produce uranium at higher levels of enrichment than Iran has declared, and that declared nuclear material is not diverted."
Iran's decision to accelerate the production of enriched uranium is a response to the recent IAEA condemnation, Grossi told the AFP news agency.
"This is a message. This is a clear message that they are responding to what they feel is pressure," the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said.
Tehran was angered by a resolution tabled last month by Britain, Germany and France, known as the E3, and the United States, which blamed Iran's cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
The UK, Germany and France have taken a tougher stance towards Iran in recent months, particularly since Tehran has stepped up its military support for Russia.
In addition, there was little progress last week when European and Iranian officials met to determine whether they could enter into serious talks on the nuclear program before US President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House in January.
Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.
While Iran maintains that its program is peaceful, Iranian officials are increasingly threatening to potentially pursue a nuclear bomb and an intercontinental ballistic missile. But experts argue that enriching uranium to 60 percent is only a small step from the weapons level of 90 percent, and say there is no justification for enriching uranium to such a high level in any civilian program.
News of Iran's decision to increase uranium enrichment came just hours after Tehran claimed to have successfully launched a rocket into space, the latest in a program the West says is also for ballistic missile research.
Official media reported that the Simorg missile was launched at Iran's Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Semnan province, located about 220 kilometers east of Tehran.
Western governments have expressed concern that Tehran's ballistic missile program is approaching the capability to launch weapons against distant enemies such as the United States.
Simorg carried what Iran described as an "orbital propulsion system" as well as two research systems to an orbit 400 kilometers above Earth. It also carried the Fakhr-1 satellite for the Iranian military.
Iran has said its space program, like its nuclear activities, is purely for civilian purposes.
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