Western countries concerned about Iran's nuclear development program

On December 28, the US, UK, France and Germany expressed concern that Iran is increasing its uranium enrichment to 60% after several months of stagnation, based on a report recently released by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

In a joint statement, the US and Western countries said that Iran's increase in uranium enrichment to 60% is "a new and more serious escalation in Iran's nuclear development program and cannot be justified for civilian purposes".

The statement came just two days after the IAEA released a report saying Iran “has increased its production of highly enriched uranium, after a period of production reduction since mid-2023.”

According to the report, since the end of November, Iran has increased the amount of 60% enriched uranium to about 9kg/month, an increase of 3kg compared to June and returned to the production level of the first half of 2023.

In June, Iran announced indirect talks with the United States and set a condition for slowing its uranium enrichment program. Then, in August, when the two countries reached a prisoner swap agreement, Iran pledged not to enrich above 60% and to cooperate with IAEA inspectors.

In return, Washington will not tighten economic sanctions on Iran and will lift the freeze on billions of dollars worth of Iranian assets abroad, provided that the money is only used for humanitarian purposes.

The 60% enrichment level is lower than the 90% level needed to make nuclear weapons, but much higher than the 3.67% limit that Iran committed to in the agreement signed with the P5+1 Group (including the 5 UN Security Council countries: the UK, France, the US, Russia and China along with Germany) in 2015.

On December 27, Director General of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Mr. Mohammad Eslami, affirmed that the country is not "doing anything new and is only carrying out activities according to regulations".

Iran has consistently denied any attempt to develop nuclear weapons, insisting that its nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes only. Tehran has insisted that it will pursue diplomatic measures through negotiations and that it remains committed to the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).