31-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Iran has grown uranium stockpile to near weapons-grade levels: IAEA report
Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels, a confidential report by the UN nuclear watchdog has said, as it 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 in the past weeks over a possible nuclear deal that US President Donald Trump is trying to reach.
The report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Saturday said that as of May 17, Iran had amassed 408.6kg (900.8 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60 per cent.
That is an increase of 133.8kg – or almost 50 per cent – 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 274.8kg.
There was no immediate comment from Tehran on the new IAEA report.
