International atomic monitors in Iran last week detected uranium enriched to levels nearly high enough for a nuclear weapon, according to a Bloomberg News report based on the testimony of two senior diplomats.
This development, emphasized by the monitors, represents the significant risk that the country's unrestrained atomic activity could bring about a global crisis.
Inspectors need, according to Bloomberg, to determine whether Iran intentionally produced the enriched uranium or if the concentration was the result of an unintended buildup within the network of pipes connecting the hundreds of fast-spinning centrifuges used to separate isotopes.
Past instances of monitors clashing with Iran's nuclear facilities
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) criticized Iran on Wednesday, February 1 for making an undeclared change to the interconnection between the two clusters of advanced machines enriching uranium to up to 60% purity, close to weapons grade, at its Fordow plant.
The production of high-enriched uranium by Iran at Fordow carries significant proliferation-related risks and is without any credible civilian justification, the joint statement said, adding Iran has not offered a credible answer yet to the IAEA's outstanding questions as part of its safeguards investigation.
Fordow is so sensitive that the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers banned enrichment there. Since the United States pulled out of the deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions against Iran, the Islamic Republic has breached many of the deal's restrictions on its nuclear activities.
Reuters contributed to this report.