UN nuclear agency boss Rafael Mariano Grossi warns that Iran’s new centrifuges could give it ‘a huge jump’.
Iran is prepared to “quite dramatically” grow its levels of near weapons-grade uranium, the head of the United Nation’s (UN) nuclear agency has warned.
Speaking from the sidelines of the International Institute of Strategic Studies’ Manama Dialogue in Bahrain on Friday, Rafael Mariano Grossi, who runs the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expressed his concerns about Iran’s plan to install 6,000 new centrifuges.
Tehran currently enriches uranium at 60%, a little short of weapons-grade levels of 90%.
“I think it is very concerning,” Grossi said. “If they really make them turn — all of them — it’s going to be a huge jump.”
His comments came hours after Iran successfully launched a Simorgh rocket with its highest ever payload. Although Iran insists its space programme is peaceful, its critics think such tests enhance its ballistic missile programme.
Last week, Richard Moore, head of MI6, the British foreign intelligence service, said Iran was still a threat to other countries, despite the blows its allies in Syria, Lebanon and Gaza have suffered in recent months.
“Iran’s allied militias across the Middle East have suffered serious blows, but the regime’s nuclear ambitions continue to threaten all of us,” he said.
In just over a month’s time, US President-elect Donald Trump will take office. He has already promised to renew his “maximum pressure” strategy on Iran in an attempt to cripple it financially.
During Trump’s first presidency, the US withdrew from the “Iran nuclear deal”, which had been one of his his predecessor Barack Obama’s key foreign policy victories.
Additional sources • AP