by Zachary Halaschak | January 25, 2020 12:35 PM
Ali Asghar Zarean, the deputy head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, said in a report on Saturday that should the country wish to enrich uranium to exceedingly high levels, it would have the ability to do so.
“At the moment, if [Iranian authorities] make the decision, the Atomic Energy Organization, as the executor, will be able to enrich uranium at any percentage,” Zarean said, further breaking from Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal.
The remark comes the same month as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that there is “ no limit” to the amount of the country’s nuclear enrichment and also the same month that Iran said it would no longer abide by limits on how many centrifuges it can use to enrich uranium.
Enriched uranium is the key ingredient for nuclear weapons, which require about 90% enrichment to produce. The nuclear deal, which the United States left in 2018, capped the permitted concentration of uranium-235 at 3.67%, which Iran surpassed over the summer, increasing the concentration to over 4.5%.
Since withdrawing from the nuclear deal, the U.S. has exerted a “maximum pressure” campaign against the country aimed at targeting it economically through sanctions.
Saturday’s announcement comes amid tensions between the two countries. Iran recently fired more than a dozen missiles at bases in Iraq housing U.S. forces. The attack was a retaliation for the drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
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