🌅 Iran’s Enriched Uranium

SOURCE

International Atomic Energy Agency

WHAT TO KNOW

• The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) latest report found Iran has an estimated 9,247.6 kg of enriched uranium, an increase of 953.2 kg since last quarter. Of the enriched uranium, 408.6 kg is enriched to 60% purity, just short of the 90% threshold needed to make nuclear weapons.

WHY IT MATTERS

• The IAEA report is Israel’s main justification for launching its attack on Iran on June 15, with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu claiming Iran could be “within a few months” of producing a nuclear weapon. While U.S. intelligence has consistently stated that Iran isn’t actively pursuing nuclear weapons (the latest intel suggests the country is up to three years away from being able to do so), the amount of enriched uranium catalogued by the IAEA had already reached a so-called “near-zero point” months ago, meaning Iran could theoretically construct a crude bomb in a matter of only weeks or months.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• Under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as the “Iran nuclear deal,” the Obama administration and a coalition of world powers eliminated 98% of Iran’s uranium stockpile (the deal limited the stockpile to 300 kg and capped enrichment at 3.7%). However, Donald Trump abandoned the deal during his first term in 2018, and the IAEA has reported significant growth in Iran’s stockpile of nuclear material ever since.