VIENNA: Iran has told the United Nations nuclear watchdog it plans to enrich uranium to 20 percent purity, a level it achieved before its 2015 accord, at its Fordow site buried inside a mountain.

The move is the latest of several recent announcements made by Iran to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it plans to further breach the deal, which it started violating in 2019 in retaliation for Washington’s withdrawal from the agreement and the re-imposition of US sanctions against Tehran.

This step was one of many mentioned in a law passed by Iran’s parliament last month in response to the killing of the country’s top nuclear scientist, which Tehran has blamed on Israel.

Such moves by Iran could complicate efforts by US president-elect Joe Biden to rejoin the deal.

“Iran has informed the Agency that in order to comply with a legal act recently passed by the country’s parliament, the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran intends to produce low-enriched uranium (LEU) up to 20 percent at the Fordow fuel enrichment plant,” the IAEA said in a statement.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2021