Iran has even more near weapons-grade uranium, UN says
Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels, a confidential report by the UN nuclear watchdog says and calls on Tehran to urgently change course and comply with the agency's probe.
The report comes at a sensitive time as Tehran and Washington have been holding several rounds of talks over a possible nuclear deal that US President Donald Trump is trying to reach.
That is an increase of 133.8km since the IAEA's last report in February.
That material is a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent.
A report in February put the stockpile at 274.8km.
The IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi has stressed repeatedly that "Iran is the only non-nuclear weapon state enriching to this level".
On Saturday, Grossi said he "reiterates his urgent call upon Iran to co-operate fully and effectively" with the IAEA.
The comments came a day after Trump said he has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off on striking Iran to give the US administration more time to push for a new nuclear deal with Tehran.
Trump said on Friday that he still thought a deal could be completed in the "not too distant future".
"They don't want to be blown up. They would rather make a deal," Trump said of Iran.
He added, "That would be a great thing that we could have a deal without bombs being dropped all over the Middle East."
Trump said he had warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from carrying out pre-emptive strikes on Iran's nuclear program, while the talks were playing out.
Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels, a confidential report by the UN nuclear watchdog says and calls on Tehran to urgently change course and comply with the agency's probe.
The report comes at a sensitive time as Tehran and Washington have been holding several rounds of talks over a possible nuclear deal that US President Donald Trump is trying to reach.
That is an increase of 133.8km since the IAEA's last report in February.
That material is a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent.
A report in February put the stockpile at 274.8km.
The IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi has stressed repeatedly that "Iran is the only non-nuclear weapon state enriching to this level".
On Saturday, Grossi said he "reiterates his urgent call upon Iran to co-operate fully and effectively" with the IAEA.
The comments came a day after Trump said he has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off on striking Iran to give the US administration more time to push for a new nuclear deal with Tehran.
Trump said on Friday that he still thought a deal could be completed in the "not too distant future".
"They don't want to be blown up. They would rather make a deal," Trump said of Iran.
He added, "That would be a great thing that we could have a deal without bombs being dropped all over the Middle East."
Trump said he had warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from carrying out pre-emptive strikes on Iran's nuclear program, while the talks were playing out.
Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels, a confidential report by the UN nuclear watchdog says and calls on Tehran to urgently change course and comply with the agency's probe.
The report comes at a sensitive time as Tehran and Washington have been holding several rounds of talks over a possible nuclear deal that US President Donald Trump is trying to reach.
That is an increase of 133.8km since the IAEA's last report in February.
That material is a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent.
A report in February put the stockpile at 274.8km.
The IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi has stressed repeatedly that "Iran is the only non-nuclear weapon state enriching to this level".
On Saturday, Grossi said he "reiterates his urgent call upon Iran to co-operate fully and effectively" with the IAEA.
The comments came a day after Trump said he has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off on striking Iran to give the US administration more time to push for a new nuclear deal with Tehran.
Trump said on Friday that he still thought a deal could be completed in the "not too distant future".
"They don't want to be blown up. They would rather make a deal," Trump said of Iran.
He added, "That would be a great thing that we could have a deal without bombs being dropped all over the Middle East."
Trump said he had warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from carrying out pre-emptive strikes on Iran's nuclear program, while the talks were playing out.
Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels, a confidential report by the UN nuclear watchdog says and calls on Tehran to urgently change course and comply with the agency's probe.
The report comes at a sensitive time as Tehran and Washington have been holding several rounds of talks over a possible nuclear deal that US President Donald Trump is trying to reach.
That is an increase of 133.8km since the IAEA's last report in February.
That material is a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent.
A report in February put the stockpile at 274.8km.
The IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi has stressed repeatedly that "Iran is the only non-nuclear weapon state enriching to this level".
On Saturday, Grossi said he "reiterates his urgent call upon Iran to co-operate fully and effectively" with the IAEA.
The comments came a day after Trump said he has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off on striking Iran to give the US administration more time to push for a new nuclear deal with Tehran.
Trump said on Friday that he still thought a deal could be completed in the "not too distant future".
"They don't want to be blown up. They would rather make a deal," Trump said of Iran.
He added, "That would be a great thing that we could have a deal without bombs being dropped all over the Middle East."
Trump said he had warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from carrying out pre-emptive strikes on Iran's nuclear program, while the talks were playing out.
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Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Why did Trump double his steel tariffs? Because he could
Apart from trying to show that he still has some, albeit more limited, authority to act on tariffs, Trump's announcement, to a rally of US steelworks, had a secondary purpose. Loading During last year's election campaign, Trump was vehemently opposed to a proposed $US15 billion ($23.3 billion) acquisition of US Steel by Japan's Nippon Steel - as was Joe Biden, who blocked the deal only days before he left office. Both were chasing the votes of steelworkers and their powerful union in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania, where US Steel is headquartered and has its major plants. Having won the election, however, Trump has had a change of mind. While the US will impose some significant conditions on the deal -- including, perhaps, a 'golden share' that would give the government a veto over major decisions along with a commitment from Nippon Steel to appoint a US chief executive and a majority of Americans to the board – it now appears that he will approve the deal, even though he says he hasn't seen its final details. Nippon Steel, one of the world's most sophisticated steel producers, has promised to invest about $US14 billion in US Steel's operations, which have been struggling, shrinking and suffering from under-investment for decades. Trump's doubling of the tariff rate for steel and aluminium is a way of justifying the decision to approve the deal, as well as enhancing the economics of US Steel and other US steelmakers and helping to underwrite Nippon Steel's massive investments, most of which will occur over the next four years. Trump's original tariffs on steel and aluminium infuriated America's trade partners, including Australia, even though Australia's exports of those metals to the US are quite modest. Canada, whose steel exports represent about a quarter of US steel imports and half its aluminium imports, has far more at stake. Mexico, Brazil, South Korea, Vietnam, Japan and European nations will also be impacted, with Canada and the European Union already threatening retaliation, as they did in response to Trump's initial 25 per cent tariffs. Australia is still, probably fruitlessly, seeking an exemption. Loading The decision to allow the Nippon Streel deal to proceed, if that is the final outcome, is good policy. The US steel industry is small – about half the size it was half a century ago -- and has been shrinking. It has poor profitability and ageing technology. Nippon Steel's investment and its technologies can arrest that decline. The decision to double the tariffs on steel – indeed the original decision to impose the 25 per cent tariff – is, however, poor policy. It will increase investment in the sector, and will probably improve its profitability, plant utilisation rates and employment numbers. But that will come at a significant cost. In 2018, when Trump first imposed tariffs on imported steel, steel prices rose almost 10 per cent, the sector's profits rose by about $US2.5 billion, capacity utilisation jumped from 74 per cent to about 80 per cent and nearly 10,000 jobs were added within the sector. The impact was quite short-lived, with those numbers subsequently reversing as the industry resumed its long-term decline. The initial impact was predictable. Tariffs are protectionist. They protect domestic industries and companies from more efficient producers elsewhere by boosting their sales, margins and profits. That's what happened after the 2018 tariffs. Loading They come, however, at a cost to the customers of the protected industries, which is also what happened after Trump's 2018 tariffs were imposed. A Peterson Institute for International Economics study concluded that the 2018 tariffs cost US downstream steel-using industries about $US5.6 billion, or about $US650,000 for each new job they added in the steel sector. The US Federal Reserve Board concluded that they cost about 75,000 jobs in those downstream industries, or more than eight times the number of jobs added by the steelmakers. Steel is a key input to the manufacturing industries, whose protection Trump has trumpeted as the rationale for his trade wars. It's also extensively used in the construction sector. With the 25 per cent version of the tariffs on steel and aluminium not only set at twice the 2018 rate, but also applying more broadly – they now also extend to downstream products containing the metals – their impact on steel and aluminium users and US companies and consumers will be far more significant and damaging. Trump might regain a little of the authority and ego he lost when the court knocked out, perhaps temporarily, his broader weaponisation of tariffs against the rest of the world. He might also have ingratiated himself with the steelworkers whose jobs he will protect, but the economic benefits of his metals tariffs will be far outweighed by their costs to the rest of the US economy. The probable impact on the steel and aluminium industries and their customers provide, in fact, a glimpse of the broader damage that Trump's trade wars on everyone – if the courts allow him to continue them, or he can find other means to implement them – will inflict on the world's largest economy.
The Age
an hour ago
- The Age
Why did Trump double his steel tariffs? Because he could
Apart from trying to show that he still has some, albeit more limited, authority to act on tariffs, Trump's announcement, to a rally of US steelworks, had a secondary purpose. Loading During last year's election campaign, Trump was vehemently opposed to a proposed $US15 billion ($23.3 billion) acquisition of US Steel by Japan's Nippon Steel - as was Joe Biden, who blocked the deal only days before he left office. Both were chasing the votes of steelworkers and their powerful union in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania, where US Steel is headquartered and has its major plants. Having won the election, however, Trump has had a change of mind. While the US will impose some significant conditions on the deal -- including, perhaps, a 'golden share' that would give the government a veto over major decisions along with a commitment from Nippon Steel to appoint a US chief executive and a majority of Americans to the board – it now appears that he will approve the deal, even though he says he hasn't seen its final details. Nippon Steel, one of the world's most sophisticated steel producers, has promised to invest about $US14 billion in US Steel's operations, which have been struggling, shrinking and suffering from under-investment for decades. Trump's doubling of the tariff rate for steel and aluminium is a way of justifying the decision to approve the deal, as well as enhancing the economics of US Steel and other US steelmakers and helping to underwrite Nippon Steel's massive investments, most of which will occur over the next four years. Trump's original tariffs on steel and aluminium infuriated America's trade partners, including Australia, even though Australia's exports of those metals to the US are quite modest. Canada, whose steel exports represent about a quarter of US steel imports and half its aluminium imports, has far more at stake. Mexico, Brazil, South Korea, Vietnam, Japan and European nations will also be impacted, with Canada and the European Union already threatening retaliation, as they did in response to Trump's initial 25 per cent tariffs. Australia is still, probably fruitlessly, seeking an exemption. Loading The decision to allow the Nippon Streel deal to proceed, if that is the final outcome, is good policy. The US steel industry is small – about half the size it was half a century ago -- and has been shrinking. It has poor profitability and ageing technology. Nippon Steel's investment and its technologies can arrest that decline. The decision to double the tariffs on steel – indeed the original decision to impose the 25 per cent tariff – is, however, poor policy. It will increase investment in the sector, and will probably improve its profitability, plant utilisation rates and employment numbers. But that will come at a significant cost. In 2018, when Trump first imposed tariffs on imported steel, steel prices rose almost 10 per cent, the sector's profits rose by about $US2.5 billion, capacity utilisation jumped from 74 per cent to about 80 per cent and nearly 10,000 jobs were added within the sector. The impact was quite short-lived, with those numbers subsequently reversing as the industry resumed its long-term decline. The initial impact was predictable. Tariffs are protectionist. They protect domestic industries and companies from more efficient producers elsewhere by boosting their sales, margins and profits. That's what happened after the 2018 tariffs. Loading They come, however, at a cost to the customers of the protected industries, which is also what happened after Trump's 2018 tariffs were imposed. A Peterson Institute for International Economics study concluded that the 2018 tariffs cost US downstream steel-using industries about $US5.6 billion, or about $US650,000 for each new job they added in the steel sector. The US Federal Reserve Board concluded that they cost about 75,000 jobs in those downstream industries, or more than eight times the number of jobs added by the steelmakers. Steel is a key input to the manufacturing industries, whose protection Trump has trumpeted as the rationale for his trade wars. It's also extensively used in the construction sector. With the 25 per cent version of the tariffs on steel and aluminium not only set at twice the 2018 rate, but also applying more broadly – they now also extend to downstream products containing the metals – their impact on steel and aluminium users and US companies and consumers will be far more significant and damaging. Trump might regain a little of the authority and ego he lost when the court knocked out, perhaps temporarily, his broader weaponisation of tariffs against the rest of the world. He might also have ingratiated himself with the steelworkers whose jobs he will protect, but the economic benefits of his metals tariffs will be far outweighed by their costs to the rest of the US economy. The probable impact on the steel and aluminium industries and their customers provide, in fact, a glimpse of the broader damage that Trump's trade wars on everyone – if the courts allow him to continue them, or he can find other means to implement them – will inflict on the world's largest economy.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Top 10 at 11: ASX opens lower after Trump ramps up tariff rhetoric once again
Morning, and welcome to Stockhead's Top 10 (at 11… ish), highlighting the movers and shakers on the ASX in early-doors trading. With the market opening at 10am sharp eastern time, the data is taken at 10:15, once trading kicks off in earnest. In brief, this is what the markets have been up to this morning. May marks solid month of growth May was a month of recovery for global markets, which gained steadily over the past 31 days to make up much of the damage done by sweeping tariffs imposed by the Trump administration in April. While the Nasdaq and the S&P500 both fell marginally in trade on Friday night, the indices marked their best month of trade since 2023, adding 9.6% and 6.2% respectively. The Bluechip Dow Jones added 0.1% on Friday and 3.9% through the month. Over in Europe, annual German inflation data showed a 0.1% fall to 2.1% in May, just a hair off the Central Bank's 2% target. That brings an interest rate cut for the Eurozone into focus, with analysts confident inflation is now under control. 'Unlike in the US where, largely thanks to tariff threats, resurging inflation is a serious likelihood, in Europe, central banks feel they have a decent grip on it,' Morningstar chief European equity market strategist Michael Field said. The FTSE300 lifted 3.9% and the FTSE100 3.3% in May, having added 0.2% and 0.6% on Friday respectively. Trump doubles steel tariff Just when we thought all the tariff back and forth was settling down, Trump has decided to double US tariffs on steel imports, drawing criticism from the EU. 'We strongly regret the announced increase of US tariffs on steel imports from 25% to 50%,' an EU spokesperson said in a statement to NBC News. 'This decision adds further uncertainty to the global economy and increases costs for consumers and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.' The EU certainly doesn't look likely to roll over and take the new import tax – the trade bloc has already signalled its intention to impose countermeasures. The new tariff hike will go into effect on June 4, unless Trump backs down again. The EU says its countermeasures will come into effect on July 14 if no 'mutually acceptable solution is reached'. Australia imported about US$608 million in iron, steel and aluminium to the US in 2023, just 0.6% of our total exports. The tariffs are unlikely to have much of an effect on the overall steel industry here at home, as most of our iron, steel and aluminium is exported to Chinese markets. ASX dips in early trade The ASX has opened lower despite Futures pointing to a marginal lift in trade, down 0.06% as of about 10:30 am AEST. The Materials sector is pushing higher (+0.31%), supported by a 0.58% uplift in the ASX All Ords Gold index. Six of 11 sectors are in the red this morning, led down by Consumer Discretionary with a 0.74% dip. Both the ASX 200 Banks (-0.49%) and All Tech (-0.40%) indices are also dragging this morning, creating headwinds for the rest of the market. Apart from the new steel tariff, Trump has also accused China of breaking May's trade truce. On Friday he told reporters he would be speaking with Chinese President Xi Jinping to reach a new understanding. The Chinese embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said China had repeatedly raised concerns with the US regarding its abuse of export control measures in the semiconductor sector. 'China once again urges the US to immediately correct its erroneous actions, cease discriminatory restrictions against China and jointly uphold the consensus reached at the high-level talks in Geneva,' Liu said. The US Department of Commerce says it's reviewing strategic exports and considering suspending existing export licences or imposing additional requirements. Here's hoping they figure it out sooner rather than later. 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Firetail Resources (ASX:FTL) has locked-in option agreements to acquire interests in two US-based gold projects. FTL is looking to secure up to 80% of the Excelsior Springs project and 100% of the Bella project, which have produced results of up to 51.8m at 4 g/t gold and 12.2m at 46.62 g/t gold respectively. DXN (ASX:DXN) has inked a $4.6m contract to deliver three prefabricated modular data centre units for Globalstar Inc. The company says the detail demonstrates DXN's growing relevance in the global satellite and aerospace infrastructure sector, reflecting the technical strength of its offering. 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