Iran will not export highly enriched uranium but offers to dilute stockpile

Iran is refusing to export its 300kg stockpile of highly enriched uranium, but says it will dilute the purity under supervision from the UN nuclear inspectorate, the IAEA. The proposal will be central to an offer Iran plans to make to the US in the next few days as the US president, Donald Trump, weighs whether to use his naval build-up in the Middle East to attack the country.

Iran currently holds uranium enriched to 60%, close to weapons grade, but is willing to down-blend the purity to 20% or below. Foreign minister Abbas Araghchi says Washington has not asked Tehran to abandon the right to enrich inside Iran, with discussion focused instead on the purity of enrichment and the number of centrifuges to be permitted.

There had been talk of sending the stockpile to Russia or linking Iran’s domestic programme with an overseas consortium, but Iranian sources insist the consortium concept has not been raised.

Iran

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