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Iran is prepared to dilute its highly enriched uranium if the United States lifts all sanctions on the country, the head of Iran’s atomic energy agency said Monday after talks resumed with Washington, according to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency.
IRNA quoted Atomic Energy Organization of Iran chief Mohammad Eslami as saying the possibility of diluting 60% enriched uranium would depend on whether “all sanctions” are lifted in return, without specifying whether that would include all sanctions on Iran or only those imposed by the United States.
Diluting uranium means mixing it with blend material to reduce the enrichment level so the final product does not exceed a given enrichment threshold.
Before U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June last year, Iran had been enriching uranium to 60%, far above the 3.67% limit set under a 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers that is now defunct.
Western countries led by the United States suspect Tehran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a claim Iran denies.
According to the UN’s nuclear watchdog, Iran is the only non-nuclear-weapons state enriching uranium to 60%.
It remains unknown where over 400 kilograms (881.8 pounds) of highly enriched uranium that Iran possessed before the war has ended up. U.N. inspectors last recorded its location on June 10.
Such a stockpile could allow Iran to build more than nine nuclear bombs if enrichment reached 90%, according to the report.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for Iran to be subject to a total ban on enrichment, a condition described as unacceptable to Tehran and far less favorable than the 2015 agreement.
Iran says it has a right to a civilian nuclear program under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which it and 190 other countries are signatories.
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