US eyes reports Iran has accelerated uranium enrichment

Tension has risen between Washington and Tehran amid the Israel-Gaza war.

The United States has expressed deep concern over reports that Iran has accelerated its production of weapons-grade uranium.

The comments from a White House National Security Council spokesperson came late on Tuesday in response to a report issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that warned that Tehran has accelerated production of the high-grade material.

“Iran’s nuclear escalation is all the more concerning at a time when Iran-backed proxies continue their dangerous and destabilising activities in the region, including the recent deadly drone attack and other attempted attacks in Iraq and Syria and the Houthi attacks against commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea,” the US spokesperson said.

The United Nations atomic watchdog’s report to member states said that Iran has increased the rate at which it is producing near weapons-grade uranium in recent weeks, reversing a previous slowdown that started in in mid-2023.

Iran had previously slowed the rate at which it was enriching uranium – the process of raising the level of uranium-235, the isotope used in nuclear fission –  to 60 percent purity. Uranium enriched at 60 percent is just a step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent. Nuclear power stations require 3.67 percent.