عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Iran Enriching to up to 60% At Fordow, Plans Massive Expansion, IAEA Says

This Dec. 11, 2020, satellite photo by Maxar Technologies shows construction at Iran's Fordow nuclear facility. (Maxar Technologies via AP)
This Dec. 11, 2020, satellite photo by Maxar Technologies shows construction at Iran's Fordow nuclear facility. (Maxar Technologies via AP)
TT
TT

Iran Enriching to up to 60% At Fordow, Plans Massive Expansion, IAEA Says

This Dec. 11, 2020, satellite photo by Maxar Technologies shows construction at Iran's Fordow nuclear facility. (Maxar Technologies via AP)
This Dec. 11, 2020, satellite photo by Maxar Technologies shows construction at Iran's Fordow nuclear facility. (Maxar Technologies via AP)

Iran is enriching uranium to up to 60% purity, close to weapons grade, underground for the first time at its Fordow plant, the UN nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday, adding that Iran is also planning a massive expansion of its enrichment capacity. 

Iran earlier on Tuesday said it had started to enrich uranium to up to 60% at a second site, Fordow, having already done so at its above-ground pilot plant at Natanz for more than a year. At that pilot plant just two cascades, or clusters, of advanced centrifuges are enriching to that level. 

The latest move is in retaliation to last week's resolution by the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation Board of Governors ordering Iran to cooperate with a years-long IAEA investigation into the origin of uranium particles found at three undeclared sites. 

"Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi today said Iran had started producing high enriched uranium - UF6 (uranium hexafluoride) enriched up to 60% - using the existing two cascades of IR-6 centrifuges in the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, in addition to such production that has taken place at Natanz since April 2021," the IAEA said in a statement. 

It was summarizing a confidential report to IAEA member states seen by Reuters on various moves taken and planned by Iran at enrichment plants at Fordow and Natanz. 

Iran only has six cascades, or clusters, of IR-6 centrifuges in operation at three plants at Fordow and Natanz. Diplomats say the IR-6 is the most advanced model it is using on such a scale. 

It plans to add 14 more IR-6 cascades at Fordow, six of which will replace first-generation IR-1 machines, the IAEA said. They will enrich to up to 5% or up to 20%, it added. 

In the longer term, however, Iran plans a massive expansion of its underground, commercial-scale Fuel Enrichment Plant at Natanz, where it is also installing and bringing online more cascades of advanced centrifuges. 

"Iran continues to advance its enrichment activities at the Fuel Enrichment Plant in Natanz and now plans to install a second production building, capable of housing over 100 centrifuge cascades," it said. 

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Türkiye Presses PKK to Disarm ‘Immediately’

An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
TT
TT

Türkiye Presses PKK to Disarm ‘Immediately’

An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)

Türkiye on Thursday insisted the PKK and all groups allied with it must disarm and disband "immediately", a week after a historic call by the Kurdish militant group's jailed founder.

"The PKK and all groups affiliated with it must end all terrorist activities, dissolve and immediately and unconditionally lay down their weapons," a Turkish defense ministry source said.

The remarks made clear the demand referred to all manifestations of Abdullah Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has led a four-decade insurgency against the Turkish state, costing tens of thousands of lives.

Although the insurgency targeted Türkiye, the PKK's leadership is based in the mountains of northern Iraq and its fighters are also part of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a key force in northeastern Syria.

Last week, Ocalan made a historic call urging the PKK to dissolve and his fighters to disarm, with the group on Saturday accepting his call and declaring a ceasefire.

The same day, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that if the promises were not kept, Turkish forces would continue their anti-PKK operations.

"If the promises given are not kept and an attempt is made to delay... or deceive... we will continue our ongoing operations... until we eliminate the last terrorist," he said.

- Resonance in Syria, Iraq -

Since 2016, Türkiye has carried out three major military operations in northern Syria targeting PKK militants, which it sees as a strategic threat along its southern border.

Ankara has made clear it wants to see all PKK fighters disarmed wherever they are -- notably those in the US-backed SDF, which it sees as part of the PKK.

The SDF -- the bulk of which is made up of the Kurdish YPG -- spearheaded the fight that ousted ISIS extremists from Syria in 2019, and is seen by much of the West as crucial to preventing an extremist resurgence.

Last week, SDF leader Mazloum Abdi welcomed Ocalan's call for the PKK to lay down its weapons but said it "does not concern our forces" in northeastern Syria.

But Türkiye disagrees.

Since the toppling of Syria's Bashar al-Assad in December, Ankara has threatened military action unless YPG militants are expelled, deeming them to be a regional security problem.

"Our fundamental approach is that all terrorist organizations should disarm and be dissolved in Iraq and Syria, whether they are called the PKK, the YPG or the SDF," Omer Celik, spokesman for Erdogan's ruling AKP, said on Monday.

Ocalan's call also affects Iraq, with the PKK leadership holed up in the mountainous north where Turkish forces have staged multiple air strikes in recent years.

Turkish forces have also established numerous bases there, souring Ankara's relationship with Baghdad.

"We don't want either the PKK or the Turkish army on our land... Iraq wants everyone to withdraw," Iraq's national security adviser Qassem al-Araji told AFP.

"Turkish forces are (in Iraq) because of the PKK's presence," he said, while pointing out that Türkiye had "said more than once that it has no territorial ambitions in Iraq".