Iran rules out enrichment above 60%: AEOI Head

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami, said on Saturday that Iran has not had any enrichment above 60%.

Speaking during a joint press conference in Tehran with IAEA director general Rafael Grossi, Eslami said that Mr. Grossi’s report is about tracing 84% purity particles, not 84% enrichment, adding that there was no such beyond 60% enrichment in the reservoirs where the production is kept.

Eslami and the IAEA chief had agreed, during his earlier visit to the agency, on a model on the three sites under question, he said.

Noting that they will move towards settling the case within the framework of this model, Eslami said that his colleagues are now in the process of discussing the case.

He stressed Iran’s determination to start with its development goals and that it will not trade its national interests and security for anything else.

Eslami noted that in the event of adopting any resolution against Iran, the related bodies will act accordingly.

UN nuclear chief says Iran visit could produce 'important agreements'

The UN nuclear watchdog chief said Saturday that he had "constructive" meetings with Iranian officials in Tehran.

The IAEA chief's two-day visit comes as the Vienna-based organization seeks greater cooperation with Iran on its nuclear activities.

Grossi arrived in Iran on Friday amid a stalemate in talks to resurrect a landmark 2015 agreement on Iran's nuclear activities, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

However, Tehran denies wanting nuclear weapons and that it has made no attempts to enrich uranium beyond 60% purity. Iran's government noted that "unintended fluctuations... may have occurred" during the enrichment process.

The discovery came after Iran made significant changes to an interconnection between two centrifuge clusters enriching uranium without informing the IAEA.

Iran's AEOI slams 84% uranium enrichment claims as false

Last month, Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), refuted information mentioned in a report published by Bloomberg.

In its report, Bloomberg claimed that inspectors from the IAEA found uranium materials in Iran enriched up to 84%, adding that "inspectors need to determine whether Iran intentionally produced the material, or whether the concentration was an unintended accumulation within the network of pipes connecting the hundreds of fast-spinning centrifuges used to separate the isotopes."

In response, Kamalvandi said the Bloomberg report is an attempt to falsify facts, explaining that throughout the enrichment process, the presence of uranium particles with purity levels exceeding 60% does not mean that uranium is being enriched at levels above 60%.

In an interview for the state-run IRNA news agency, the AEOI spokesperson stressed that "what matters is the final product and Iran has never started uranium enrichment at a level above 60 percent," adding that "the IAEA is well aware that such issues happen during nuclear work."

Elsewhere, Kamalvandi considered that "publicizing these matters through Western media once again proves that, regretfully, the IAEA has abandoned its professional and unbiased position since a long time ago."