Tehran informed International Atomic Energy Agency that it would increase enrichment of plutonium well above the permitted level.


The enrichment level to 20 per cent is another violation the Vienna nuclear agreement. In a letter we informed the IAEA that we would have to change the uranium gas capsules and that the IAEA inspectors should unseal them," said the vice president and head of the Iranian nuclear organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, according to local media reports.

The IAEA acknowledged receipt of the letter, dated December 31. When the enrichment should begin was left open in the letter. The authorities said, however, that inspectors were stationed in Iran all year round and had regular access to the affected nuclear facility.

With this, Iran is again breaking the Vienna nuclear agreement and increasing the pressure on Europe to exempt the country from sanctions. The United States withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018 under the administration of President Donald Trump. In the 2015 agreement, Iran agreed to limit enrichment if it would receive relief from sanctions.

Stocks higher than allowed

The nuclear law was passed by government opponents in the Iranian parliament at the end of November. In result, the Iranian nuclear organisation will produce and store 120 kilograms of 20 percent uranium per year. The law violates the Vienna nuclear deal in all respects, with which Iran should be kept from a nuclear weapons program.

Most recently, the Vienna agency announced in a report that Iranian stocks of enriched uranium were many times higher than allowed. The amount of slightly enriched uranium has now exceeded the permitted limit by more than twelve times.

According to the inter-party agreement with EU, Russia and Communist China, Iran should enrich uranium to up to 4.5 percent, which means that the country is already violating the requirements of the nuclear agreement. According to experts, Iran has enough low-enriched uranium for at least two nuclear weapons.