Iran “finished production of 50kg of uranium enriched by 20%”… Prospects for the possibility of producing nuclear weapons within one year

Input 2021.04.03 23:40 | Revision 2021.04.03 23:44

Iran announced on the 3rd (local time) that it had completed production of 50kg of 20% enriched uranium ahead of the talks with the participating countries of the Iran nuclear agreement in Vienna, Austria on the 6th. Experts analyze that at this rate, it can produce nuclear weapons in an early stage within a year.

Iran’s Atomic Energy Commissioner Ali Akbar Salehi announced that it had produced 50 kg of enriched uranium at a concentration of 20%, state press TV and semi-governmental Pars news agency reported on the day.

“We have produced about 50 kg of enriched uranium by 20% so far” through Social Network Service (SNS). “According to the decision of Congress last year, we plan to increase production to 120 kg at the end of the year”.

Iran said, “We have fulfilled our obligations under the 2015 Nuclear Agreement (JCPOA, Comprehensive Joint Action Plan), but have not renounced any rights,” he added. .

Iran enriched uranium to 20% before the agreement was concluded, but it diluted it to 3.67% due to the nuclear agreement and exported the excess overseas. When the US broke the nuclear agreement, it raised it to 4.5%.

When nuclear scientist Mosen Parkrizade was assassinated at the end of last year, Iranian parliament passed a bill to raise the level of uranium enrichment to 20%.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) cited experts and reported that Iran could build a nuclear weapon within a year. According to the WSJ, in order to make one nuclear weapon, 25 kg of 90% highly enriched uranium is required, and 200 to 250 kg of 20% enriched uranium must be produced.

David Albright, director of the US think tank Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), argued that Iran could conduct a nuclear bomb test in nine months and build an early-stage nuclear weapon within a year.

In a report released last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced that it has begun enriching uranium using an improved centrifuge type IR-4 at the Natanz underground nuclear facility.

The improved version has a faster enrichment rate than the IR-1 type (with an allowable limit of 5,060 units), which allows enrichment of uranium to a concentration of 3.67% according to the nuclear agreement.

Donald Trump’s U.S. government unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear agreement in May 2018. Accordingly, from May 2019, the Iranian government stepped out of its obligation to freeze and reduce nuclear programs set in the nuclear agreement.

The Joe Biden administration, which was launched in January this year, demands that Iran must abide by all its obligations under the nuclear agreement, even though it will return to the nuclear agreement. Iran is confronting that the United States will comply with the nuclear agreement only if the United States first lifts economic sanctions against Iran restored by the Trump administration.