Iran will enrich uranium to 60% purity if it needs to, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei made the remarks Monday to the country’s Assembly of Experts, state television reported.
“Iran’s uranium enrichment level will not be limited to 20%. We will increase it to whatever level the country needs,” he said, adding: “We may increase it to 60%.” He also asserted that Iran would not yield to pressure from the United States and the European countries over its nuclear program.
Under the nuclear agreement that Iran signed in 2015 with the world powers, Iran can enrich uranium to 3.67%. It recently raised that enrichment to 20%, which is what it had reached prior to the agreement. Enrichment of 90 % is required for a nuclear weapon.
In his remarks Khamenei denied that Iran was working toward a nuclear weapon.
Also on Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US planned to strengthen and expand the nuclear agreement, in exchange for lifting most sanctions. “The United States remains committed to ensuring that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon. Diplomacy is the best path to achieve that goal,” he said in a remote address to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.