Today, Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akhbar Salehi said that Tehran had successfully begun enriching uranium to 60% purity at its Natanz nuclear facility.
The Speaker of Iran’s Parliament, Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, said he was “proud to announce that at 00:40… young and pious Iranian scientists were able to obtain a product of 60% enriched uranium”.
Earlier this week, Iran announced that it would begin enriching uranium up to the 60% level. The UK, France and Germany released a statement in response, describing the announcement as “dangerous”.
“The governments of France, Germany and the United Kingdom (the E3) note with grave concern the announcement by Iran that it will start uranium enrichment up to 60% using advanced centrifuges as Iran communicated to the IAEA on 13 April”, they said.
The material must be enriched to 90% for weapons-grade uranium.
An explosion that took out the Natanz site’s main electrical power system and its backup on Sunday was described by Iran as an act of “nuclear terrorism”, blaming Israel for the attack.
Ali Akhbar Salehi said Iran “reserves the right to take action against the perpetrator”.
