Iran is enriching uranium with IR-6 centrifuges at Natans

VIENNA/TEHRAN (AP/RDR) — Iran has begun enriching uranium in the second of three stacks, or clusters, of advanced IR-6 centrifuges recently installed at an underground plant in Natans, in the center of the country. This is according to a report by the IAEA Atomic Energy Organization seen by Reuters news agency.

Like the first of those three layers, each containing 174 machines, the second layer enriches uranium to a maximum of 5 percent nuclear purity. The third layer does not contain nuclear material as fuel, the IAEA report said. On Monday, the Atomic Energy Community announced that the first layer had already been put into use.

Politically motivated research

Iran’s foreign minister on Wednesday said the IAEA reports were “politically motivated investigations”.

Iran is considering US notes this week on a European proposal to revive the nuclear deal. Iranian news outlet Noor will provide an answer on Friday earlier this week.

The United States scrapped the nuclear deal that curbed Iran’s nuclear program four years ago under then-President Donald Trump. As a result, Tehran did not feel bound by the agreements and, among other things, resumed enriching uranium to higher concentrations than needed to generate energy in nuclear reactors.