Iran says informed IAEA of 60-pct uranium enrichment at Fordow last Nov

TEHRAN -- The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Sunday that Tehran had informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of its decision to start enriching uranium to the purity level of 60 percent at Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP) in November 2022.

Nasser Kanaani made the remark in response to a joint statement by the United States, Britain, France and Germany on Friday, which accused Iran of being "inconsistent in meeting its nuclear obligations as shown by a recent IAEA report."

In a statement published on the ministry's website, Kanaani said Iran informed the UN watchdog of its uranium enrichment to 60 percent purity at the Fordow facility on Nov. 17, 2022, and all modes of enrichment had been mentioned in the design information questionnaire (DIQ) submitted to the agency.

Turning to the IAEA's recent inspection of the facility in January 2023, he said no new or contradictory measure has been implemented at the facility compared with November's DIQ.

The UN agency criticized Iran on Wednesday for making an "undeclared change" to the interconnection between the two clusters of advanced machines enriching uranium to up to 60 percent purity at its Fordow plant.

Later on the day, the spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi said the IAEA's claim was based on a "mistaken" report by an inspector.

Over the past months, the IAEA has voiced some criticism about Iran's cooperation with the agency. On Nov. 17, 2022, the IAEA's Board of Governors passed a resolution proposed by the United States, Britain, France and Germany that called on Iran to collaborate with the agency's investigators regarding the alleged "traces of uranium" at a number of its "undeclared" sites. Iran has repeatedly rejected all allegations.