ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iran has begun enriching uranium at 60 percent at the Natanz nuclear facility, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has confirmed.
The process is underway at the nuclear facility in central Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi told the semi official Tasnim News Agency, which is linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Sixty percent uranium enrichment was reached at 12:40am on Friday, parliamentary speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf tweeted on Friday morning.
Iran had vowed to ramp up its uranium enrichment in the wake of what was believed to be an Israeli attack on Natanz on Sunday, prompting concern from foreign states party to the 2015 nuclear deal.
The UK, France and Germany have spoken out against Iran’s plans to increase enrichment to 60 percent.
“This is a serious development since the production of highly enriched uranium constitutes an important step in the production of a nuclear weapon. Iran has no credible civilian need for enrichment at this level,” read a Wednesday statement shared by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Under the JCPOA, Iran's uranium enrichment is capped at 3.67 percent.
The development comes as talks are underway in Vienna to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The 2015 nuclear deal broke down when then US President Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement in May 2018. Trump's administration imposed harsh economic sanctions on Iran a few months later, leading the Islamic Republic to abandon several of its commitments under the accord.
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