Iran Going Ahead With Enriching Uranium

Inspectors in Vienna have discovered on Monday that Iran is going ahead with enriching uranium at a mountain site, despite the warnings that they have received in the past about doing so. The plant, called Fordo, is based near the city of Qum, and is monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Gill Tudor, from the aforementioned agency, said: “all nuclear material in the facility remains under the agency’s containment and surveillance”.

Enriched uranium is critical for the creation of nuclear weapons. The level of purity when created enables it to be used either as fuel for reactors or fuel for atom bombs. Currently the enriched uranium at the Fordo plant is up to 20% purity.

The US, UK, France and Russia have condemned Iran’s actions. As quoted by the BBC, Washington spokesman Victoria Nuland said: “We call on Iran once again to suspend enrichment activities, co-operate fully with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and immediately comply with all [UN] Security Council and IAEA board of governors resolutions.” The UK’s Foreign Secretary, William Hague also had strong words to say, reiterating that this new plant is a “provocative act which further undermines Iran’s claims that its programme is entirely civilian in nature”.

We will have to see how the matter develops, but going against UN resolutions is not likely to help the long-running tensions. Sanctions on Iran’s oil exports are also causing global experts, such as John Kemp from Reuters, to worry about the impact on the global oil market.