Inspectors from the United Nations nuclear
watchdog discovered uranium particles enriched up to 83.7 per cent at Iran's
underground Fordo nuclear complex, according to a report seen by The Associated
Press on Tuesday.
The member nations' private quarterly report
from the Vienna-based IAEA is likely to exacerbate existing tensions between
Iran and the West over its nuclear programme. Even then, Iran is already
experiencing domestic instability as a result of several months of
demonstrations and Western outrage over the country's decision to send
bomb-carrying drones to Russia in support of that country's conflict with
Ukraine.
The IAEA report only refers to
"particles," which suggests that Iran isn't accumulating a supply of
uranium that is more than 60 per cent enriched, the level at which it has been
doing so for some time.
According to the IAEA report, inspectors found
that two cascades of IR-6 centrifuges at Iran's Fordo plant had been set up
"significantly different" than what had been previously disclosed on
Jan. 21. The following day, the IAEA collected samples, which revealed particles
of up to 83.7 per cent purity, according to the study.
According to the IAEA assessment, Iran
"advised the organisation that 'unintended fluctuations' in enrichment
levels may have happened during the transition period. Iran and the agency are
currently in conversation to explain the situation.
In addition, the IAEA report stated that
following the discovery, it would "further expand the frequency and
intensity of agency verification activities" at Fordo.
Massimo Aparo, a senior IAEA official, visited
the Islamic Republic last week and "verified the supposed enrichment
rate," the Iranian envoy to the UN told the AP.
Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for Iran's
civilian nuclear programme, also made an effort last week to characterise any
finding of uranium particles with that amount of uranium enrichment as a brief
side effect of working towards a final product with 60 per cent purity. Yet,
scientists claim that even at the atomic level, such a large variation in
purity would raise suspicion in the eyes of inspectors.