(Bloomberg) -- Iran abandoned its short-lived pledge to stop enriching uranium close to levels needed for nuclear weapons, the International Atomic Energy Agency said, ramping up tension with the West just weeks before Donald Trump begins his second term as US President.
The Islamic Republic has resumed production of the highly-enriched material and is capable of dramatically increasing its stockpile, according to IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.
“It is very concerning,” Grossi said Friday during a conference in Bahrain, adding that advanced new centrifuges have the potential to help Iran increase production capacity by as much as eightfold fairly quickly.
The IAEA reported last month that Iran had made an unconditional pledge to rein in enrichment, a move seen as a potential breakthrough in diplomatic relations with the country over its atomic activities. Having held consultations in Tehran with President Masoud Pezeshkian, Grossi said Iran appeared to be shifting its strategy.
But those efforts to deescalate tensions received a setback just days later, when European countries and the US passed a divisive IAEA resolution that censured Iran and threatened to send the country back to the UN Security Council for sanctions.
Iran, which has always said its nuclear-development program is for energy purposes, began enriching uranium at up to 60% levels in 2021. That material could quickly be upgraded to the 90% typically used in nuclear weapons, prompting concern across Europe and the U.S.
The country has sufficient material to fuel a handful of warheads, should its government take the political decision to move toward nuclear weapons.
The offer to cap uranium production had been interpreted as an olive branch by Pezeshkian to Trump, who undertook an ultra-aggressive stance toward the Islamic Republic in his first term through 2021 dubbed “maximum pressure.” That included the withdrawal from an international agreement that capped Iran’s nuclear activities and the imposing of severe economic sanctions, but led to a drop in transparency over the extent of the country’s atomic activities.
All sides need to renew their efforts to peacefully defuse tensions around Iran’s nuclear program, which have simmered for more than two decades, Grossi said.
“We have to go the diplomatic way,” he said. “Otherwise it’s a disaster.”
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