Fact-Check | Iran is Intensifying Its Nuclear Program Despite Its Claims

Leaders of the G7 expressed their "serious concern" about the increasing security threat posed by Iran's intensified nuclear program and its destabilizing role in the region and beyond in a statement made in Hiroshima. The statement asserts that the Islamic Republic "must never acquire nuclear weapons" and that the "relentless escalation of Iran's nuclear program" has "no credible civilian justification and dangerously brings it closer to actual activities related to nuclear weapons production." In response, Iran dismissed these statements as "baseless and fabricated." Although Iran had halted its decades-long efforts to build a nuclear bomb in 2003, the G7 is correct in stating that Iran has enriched uranium to a level that has no legitimate civilian use. The Washington-based think tank, the Institute for Science and International Security, states that Iran's previous nuclear weapons program was based on being ready to enter the stage of nuclear weapons construction "if needed" rather than having a "traditional nuclear weapons program." David Albright, the founder of this institute, wrote: "Today, Iran is closer to the capability to build a nuclear weapon than it was in 2003, at the end of the 'Amad Project,' which was Iran's clandestine nuclear weapons program in the 2000s." In September 2002, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced that Iran had enough enriched uranium close to weapons-grade for making a nuclear bomb. In June 2022, the IAEA condemned Iran for failing to provide credible explanations about how traces of uranium were found at three undeclared locations. In November 2022, the IAEA passed a resolution calling on Iran to "fully and promptly cooperate" with the agency regarding the uranium traces at these three sites. That month, Iran stated that it was enriching uranium to 60% at the underground Fordow nuclear facility. Sixty percent is technically not far from weapons-grade uranium, which is enriched to about 90%. The IAEA reported that Iran has enriched uranium to 60% at the Natanz site since April 2021. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which analyzes disarmament and arms control issues, stated that while 60% enriched uranium cannot be used to make a nuclear bomb, "Iran has no realistic use for it." In February, two diplomats told Reuters that the IAEA discovered enriched uranium up to 84% at the Fordow site. Iran told the agency that this might be due to "unintended fluctuations in enrichment." In March, the IAEA and Iran reached an agreement to reinstall some monitoring equipment at Iran's nuclear sites. However, Kelsey Davenport, director of the Weapons Nonproliferation Policy at the Washington-based Arms Control Association, stated: "The IAEA has not clarified whether Iran will allow the agency to install online monitoring equipment for enrichment at the Fordow facility." This article is a translation of part of the research conducted on the 'PoliGraph' site of the Voice of America verification project. The IAEA is concerned about a ten percent reduction in verification and inspection of Iran's nuclear facilities.