Middle East

Iran restarts uranium enrichment toward 20% target, government says

January 4, 2021. Summarized by summa-bot.

Compression ratio: 62.7%. 1 min read.

Iran has restarted uranium enrichment toward a 20% target at its Fordow nuclear facility, a government spokesman said on Monday, according to the semi-official news agency Mehr and state news agency IRNA.

Tehran (CNN)Iran has restarted uranium enrichment toward a 20% target at its Fordow nuclear facility, a government spokesman said on Monday, according to the semi-official news agency Mehr and state news agency IRNA.

The country had informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of its intent to continue enriching the uranium at 20%, IAEA spokesman Fredrik Dahl told CNN on Friday.

Iran currently enriches its uranium stockpile up to around 4. 5%, which is above the 3. 67% cap imposed by the 2015 nuclear deal, but far short of the 90% that is considered weapons-grade.

Government spokesman Ali Rabiei said Monday that Iran started the enrichment process a "couple of hours ago" in the Fordow site, noting that the first UF6 enriched uranium will be produced in a few hours, IRNA said.

Last month, Iran's parliament overwhelmingly endorsed a draft bill aiming to counteract sanctions imposed on its nuclear program and boost uranium enrichment, state-run Press TV said.

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