Iran is rapidly increasing its enrichment of uranium to near weapons grade, according to a statement Wednesday (Jan. 22) by Rafael Grossi, head of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency.
Grossi hit the alarm button after Iran made good on a threat to “dramatically” accelerate its uranium enrichment to 60 percent purity – a short hop to the 90 percent purity needed to produce nuclear arms.
“Before, it was more or less seven kilograms (of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent) per month; now it’s above 30 or more than that. So, I think this is a clear indication of an acceleration. They are pressing the gas pedal,” Grossi told reporters Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Just 42 kg of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity is needed for one atomic bomb, according to the IAEA. Iran current possesses some 200 kg of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity, Grossi said.
Moreover, he added, “We are going to start seeing steady increases from now.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who was also in Davos, warned in a separate statement that Iran must make clear that it does not intend to build nuclear arms.
“The most relevant question is Iran and relations between Iran, Israel and the United States,” he said. “Here my hope is that the Iranians understand that it is important to once and for all make it clear that they will renounce to have nuclear weapons, at the same time that they engage constructively with the other countries of the region.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Thursday in response that it was “audacious” for Guterres to “preach” to Tehran, according to a report by the Tasnim News Agency, loosely tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
It is audacious to preach that Iranians must "once and for all make it clear that they will renounce to have nuclear weapons."
Iran's longstanding commitment to the global nonproliferation regime is clear.
– Iran signed, in 1968, the NPT as a founding member.
– Iran's Supreme… pic.twitter.com/utxudim9lK— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) January 22, 2025
“It is audacious to preach that Iranians must ‘once and for all make it clear that they will renounce to have nuclear weapons,’” Araqchi wrote in a post on the X social media platform.
“Iran’s longstanding commitment to the global nonproliferation regime is clear.”
Araqchi added that Iran’s Supreme Leader “has issued a religious edict outlawing all WMDs (weapons of mass destruction).
“Iran signed, in 2015, the JCPOA which imposed the most intrusive inspection regime in IAEA history and explicitly stated: ‘Iran reaffirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons.” (JCPOA, Para. iii of PREAMBLE AND GENERAL PROVISIONS)
“This is a permanent and clear commitment which Iran has remained committed to, even after the US unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018.”
The JCPOA was the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action signed in 2015 with Iran by then-Secretary of State John Kerry under the administration of then-President Barack Obama and five other world powers.
Following multiple Iranian violations of the agreement, President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the deal in 2018 during his first term in office.
