IAEA: Enrichment activities in Iran are ongoing

There has been no significant change in Iran’s nuclear activities since the instatement of newly elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and the country is continuing to enrich uranium, the head of the UN’s nuclear agency said on Wednesday.

“I can say that enrichment activities are ongoing … no radical change is reported to me,” said Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, during an interview with Reuters.

According to Amano, Iran is enriching uranium to 20% fissile concentration but he noted that it still has “quite a lot to do” in order to complete the heavy water facility in Arak that could produce plutonium, another possible atomic bomb-making material.

The IAEA is due to publish its latest quarterly report on Iran’s nuclear program by the end of this week. Amano traveled to Tehran at the beginning of the week for a meeting with Iranian officials to try to negotiate access for UN inspectors to the Arak site. The talks ended with an agreement to broaden the inspectors’ access by next month.

During the UN General Assembly meeting in September 2013 Rouhani made diplomatic steps to thaw relations with Western nations, including the United States, leading many to speculate that his presidency, which began in August, will be more moderate than his predecessor.

Despite reported progress, the latest round of discussions between the P5+1 world powers — the US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany — and Iran, conducted over the weekend in Geneva, ended without a deal after a proposed agreement was questioned by France. The sides are to meet again on November 20. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been bitterly critical of the emerging deal, and on Friday publicly urged Kerry not to sign it.

The six powers were considering a gradual rollback of sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy. In exchange, they demanded initial curbs on Iran’s nuclear program, including a cap on uranium enrichment to a level that cannot be turned quickly to weapons use.

Israel has strongly opposed any deal that would leave Iran with the capability to quickly construct a nuclear weapon, leading Netanyahu and other officials to publicly come out against what they saw as a flawed potential agreement over the weekend.

Iran, which denies any interest in nuclear weapons, currently runs more than 10,000 centrifuges that have created tons of fuel-grade material that can be further enriched to arm nuclear warheads. It also has nearly 200 kilograms (440 pounds) of higher-enriched uranium in a form that can be turned into weapons much more quickly. Experts say 250 kilograms (550 pounds) of that 20 percent-enriched uranium are needed to produce a single warhead.