IAEA Report: Iran Expanding Uranium Enrichment

Iran bringing on advanced centrifuges

The latest IAEA media leaks on an Iran report, which are not strictly on a new report but rather on a slightly updated one, are again accusing Iran of expanding their uranium enrichment program.

These leaks are consistent in claiming Iran’s enrichment is getting faster, though they tend to ignore that Iran has made that enrichment reversible, and is using it as leverage in negotiation.

Enrichment expansion was happening with new centrifuges before, but the report now indicates that Iran’s focus is on installing much more efficient centrifuge models.

There’s no real problem with Iran upgrading centrifuges, despite the US griping about it. The IAEA just keeps bringing up “problems” to keep from having to acknowledge the civilian nuclear program as peaceful, because the US wants to justify not making a nuclear deal.

Once again, this positions the IAEA as hostile to the deal, and harms future direct talks it may have with Iran. Iran has become increasingly distrustful of the IAEA,and the process by extension.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.