IAEA reports enrichment with advanced IR-2m by Iran
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reported that Iran has begun enriching uranium with the fourth cascade of advanced IR-2m machines at its Natanz plant.
Iran has already increased the number of its IR-2m machines, which are far more efficient than the IR-1, at the Natanz plant.
The UN nuclear agency reported on March 8 that Tehran had begun enriching uranium with the third cascade of advanced IR-2m centrifuges at its Natanz nuclear facility.
The move is the latest of several steps taken by Iran in suspending its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was abandoned by the United States in 2018.
As a response to the US withdrawal and its subsequent reimposition of sanctions, Iran began in 2019 to reduce its nuclear obligations under Article 6 of the JCPOA, citing the other signatories' failure to fulfill their obligations enshrined in the historic accord.
"On 31 March 2021, the Agency verified at FEP (Fuel Enrichment Plant) that: Iran had begun feeding natural UF6 into a fourth cascade of 174 IR-2m centrifuges," read the report dated Wednesday and obtained by Reuters on Thursday.