The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said Iran's reserves of 60 per cent enriched uranium have reached 25 kg, Tasnim News Agency has reported. "Iran is among the few countries that are able to produce it (60 per cent enriched uranium)," AEOI's Spokesman, Behrouz Kamalvandi was quoted as saying. Iran's "stockpile of 20 per cent enriched uranium has surpassed 210 kg," he added.

According to a law passed by the Iranian parliament in December 2020, the AEOI was required to produce at least 120 kg of 20 per cent enriched uranium by the end of 2021. Under the 2015 Iranian nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran was obliged to limit its uranium enrichment to a 3.67 per cent purity and to stockpile no more than 300 kg of the material, Xinhua news agency reported.

Iranian authorities have said the boost in uranium enrichment, along with other measures to reduce some commitments under the JCPOA, is a reaction to the US unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal and the failure of European signatories to protect Iran's interests amid US energy and banking sanctions. After six rounds of negotiations aimed at reviving the JCPOA in Austria's capital Vienna between April and June, Iran and the European Union on Wednesday agreed to continue the talks from November 29. (IANS/ MBI)

Keywords: Iran, reserves, uranium, sixty, Atomic Energy Organization