Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi says Tehran has started 60 percent uranium enrichment at Natanz nuclear facility, days after an explosion at the site that Tehran blamed on Israel.
“We are now getting nine grams almost a third of an ounce per hour,” Ali Akbar Salehi said on Thursday.
Earlier, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, confirmed that Iranian scientists had successfully started enriching 60 percent uranium.
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The comment by Qalibaf did not elaborate on the amount Iran planned to enrich.
The announcement also marked a significant escalation after the sabotage that damaged centrifuges in an attack this past weekend.
While Israel has yet to claim it, the country is widely suspected of having carried out the still-unexplained sabotage at Natanz, Iran’s main enrichment site.
“The will of the Iranian nation is a miracle-maker and it will defuse any conspiracy,” state television quoted Qalibaf as saying.
While 60 percent is higher than any level Iran previously enriched uranium, it is still lower than weapons-grade levels of 90 percent.
Al Jazeera’s Assed Baig said, “It is important to note that this is the highest level of enrichment that Iran has ever done.
“If we look at the 20 percent enrichment, that was in response to the assassination of the Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsin Fakhrizadeh in November,” explained Baig.
“Iran’s line is that it [the enrichment of uranium at 60 percent] is for medical use, but the EU has said there is no need for Iran to enrich to 60 percent. In reality, it could be as leverage in the nuclear talks in Vienna,” he added.
Tehran has maintained that its nuclear programme is peaceful and it does not aim to build an atomic bomb.
