IAEA finds higher enrichment at Iran bunker - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

IAEA finds higher enrichment at Iran bunker - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

The United Nations atomic agency has found evidence at an underground bunker in Iran that could mean the country has moved closer to producing the uranium threshold needed to arm nuclear missiles, diplomats have said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has found traces of uranium enriched up to 27 per cent at the Fordow enrichment plant in central Iran, the diplomats told the Associated Press on Friday.

That is still substantially below the 90 per cent level needed to make the fissile core of nuclear arms.

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But it is above Iran's highest-known enrichment grade, which is close to 20 per cent, and which already can be turned into weapons-grade material much more quickly than the Islamic Republic's main stockpile, which can only be used for fuel at around 3.5 per cent.

The diplomats, who demanded anonymity because their information is privileged, said the find did not necessarily mean that Iran was covertly raising its enrichment threshold toward weapons-grade level.