- TEHRAN: Iran has succeeded in producing its first significant batch of further enriched uranium, the country’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said Wednesday, a move defying UN demands to halt the controversial program.
The uranium has been enriched from around 3.5 percent to 20 percent purity, needed to fuel a medical research reactor, Salehi said, according to the ISNA news agency.
That level is far below the more than 90 percent needed to build a nuclear weapon, but US officials have expressed concern Iran may be moving closer to the ability to reach weapons-grade level.
Washington is accelerating its campaign for a new round of UN sanctions against Iran for its refusal to suspend enrichment, as demanded by the United Nations. Salehi’s announcement was a further sign of Tehran’s determination to push ahead with the program.
In Washington, a top Pentagon officials said on Wednesday Iran could produce enough highly enriched uranium needed for a single nuclear bomb in as little as one year but would probably need three to five years to build a “usable” atomic weapon.
The new timeframe presented to Congress comes as US President Barack Obama presses a reluctant China to back swift sanctions on Iran and US intelligence agencies try to finish a classified report assessing how Tehran’s nuclear program is progressing.
Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said information that has been made public suggests that the centrifuges at Iran’s enrichment plant at Natanz were producing low-enriched uranium and were not yet being used to make highly enriched uranium at a level needed for nuclear weapons.
