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| President Hassan Rouhani (2nd left) was shown Iran's advanced uranium centrifuges on Saturday. (Photo by= Reuters) |
[Asia News Communication = Reporter Reakkana] State-run media announced that Iran has enriched uranium to 60 percent purity, Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said Friday.
Kyodo said that it marks a serious violation of a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers under which Iran's enrichment had been capped to 3.67 percent and quickly brings the purity of its enriched uranium closer to weapons-grade levels. Sixty-percent purity would be the highest level ever achieved under Iran's nuclear program.
Iran's move comes as parties to the 2015 nuclear agreement and the United States have started substantive discussions in Vienna with the objective of finding a way for Washington to re-enter the agreement it withdrew from in 2018. Iran on Wednesday started working on enriching uranium to 60 percent purity in Natanz in central Iran as a response to sabotage on Sunday of the country's nuclear facility there it has blamed on Israel.
