Iran's nuclear leap 'extremely serious, has no civilian justification'
'These measures have no credible civilian justification and could, on the contrary, directly fuel a military nuclear program if Iran were to take the decision'
Iran’s increase in the amount of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent purity is “extremely serious,” unjustified for civilian purposes, and contradicts Tehran’s statements regarding credible nuclear negotiations, a Western diplomatic source was quoted by Reuters as saying on Saturday.
"These measures have no credible civilian justification and could, on the contrary, directly fuel a military nuclear program if Iran were to take the decision," the unnamed official said. "They are in contradiction with Iran’s declarations on its willingness to return to credible negotiations."
The International Atomic Energy Agency later confirmed in a confidential report to member states that Iran was speeding up uranium enrichment, a process that refines the raw material so that it can be used as fuel in civil nuclear power generation or, potentially, nuclear weapons.
"The information reported by the Director General of the Agency, indicating a significant increase in Iran's capacity to produce highly enriched uranium at 60%, is extremely serious," the Western diplomatic source told Reuters.