Iran Working Tirelessly on the Bomb, But Not Quite There – IAEA Head

The United Nations nuclear watchdog on Saturday offered a mixed bag of updates regarding the current status of Iran’s nuclear efforts, days after news broke of the body’s second inspection of a nuclear facility inside the Islamic Republic. While International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi reassured that Iran does not have the minimum amount of enriched uranium or plutonium needed to make an atomic bomb “at the moment,” he did warn of its ongoing efforts to reach that threshold, adding that the amount of enriched uranium “is growing by the month.” Last month, an IAEA report on the matter offered some encouraging news, reporting that while Iran was compiling enriched uranium at a larger rate than agreed on in the 2015 nuclear deal, the amount was still a fraction of what it held before the deal was signed. The report also indicated that Tehran was far behind the purity levels needed to develop the bomb – reaching 4.5% purity as of today, as opposed to 20% prior to 2015 and 90% that is considered weapons-grade.