Iran Increases High Level Enrichment After IAEA Condemnation

EU nations condemn Iran's enrichment

Fresh off of the IAEA voting to condemn Iran over aspects of the uranium enrichment program, Iran is reported to have increased enrichment rates of its highest level (60%) enriched uranium.

The increased enrichment was facilitated by Iran installing improved centrifuges, which have higher capacity. 60% uranium is still far below weapons-grade, and thus not a proliferation risk.

Which didn’t stop Britain, France, and Germany from condemning Iran’s enrichment as beyond the limits of the JCPOA.

This is true, but the JCPOA is not in effect since the US dishonored the deal years ago. Iran has been deliberately going beyond that to incentivize the US to return to the deal. After all, they have no reason to engage if Iran just voluntarily complies without getting anything in return.

This makes the deal straightforward and necessary, though so far the US has used Iran’s non-compliance, done plainly for leverage, as an excuse to not finalize anything.

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.