Iranian President Says Higher Enrichment Decision is Response to Nuclear Facility Attack
Voice of America
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that his country’s decision to enrich uranium up to 60% purity is in response to the sabotage attack that damaged the nation’s Natanz nuclear site.
Speaking at a Cabinet meeting, Rouhani called the move “an answer to your evilness.” Iran had previously enriched uranium to 20%. In addition to higher enrichment levels, Rouhani also said first-generation IR-1 centrifuges that were damaged in the attack would be replaced by more advanced IR-6 centrifuges. Under the terms of a 2015 agreement between Iran and a group of six world powers, Iran was limited to enriching uranium up to 3.67% to allay concerns about it developing nuclear weapons. Weapons-grade uranium is enriched to about 90%.
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