IAEA in Tehran, Iran to clear false reports over Uranium purity levels

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
22 Feb 2023 11:43

The head of Iran's nuclear organization says Tehran "will not allow failures in cooperation with the IAEA," over incorrect reports.

The Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Mohammad Eslami (AP)

Inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are conducting talks with Iranian officials for the second day in Tehran to work on the issue of the agency's report claiming that Iran is enriching Uranium at 84%, which Iran dubbed "distortion of facts."

"The representatives of the IAEA are now in Tehran. Negotiations have been underway since yesterday, they visit and carry out inspections of our nuclear facilities. The issue of incorrect information recently presented by one of the inspectors of the agency is being corrected. We will not allow failures in cooperation with the IAEA," the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami said during a press briefing on Wednesday.

"With the interaction and coordination made, we always try to avoid creating new ambiguity in the agency's cooperation process," Eslami added.

Background

Bloomberg claimed in a report last Sunday that inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) found uranium materials in Iran enriched up to 84%, adding that "inspectors need to determine whether Iran intentionally produced the material, or whether the concentration was an unintended accumulation within the network of pipes connecting the hundreds of fast-spinning centrifuges used to separate the isotopes."

A spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Behrouz Kamalvand, slammed on Tuesday the information mentioned in the report as attempts to falsify facts, explaining that throughout the enrichment process, the presence of uranium particles with purity levels exceeding 60% does not mean that uranium is being enriched at levels above 60%.

"What matters is the final product and Iran has never started uranium enrichment at a level above 60 percent," Kamalvand said, adding that "the IAEA is well aware that such issues happen during nuclear work."