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)
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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. 



France Plans to Take Iran to Int’l Court over Citizen Detentions

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025.  EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
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France Plans to Take Iran to Int’l Court over Citizen Detentions

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025.  EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET

Two French citizens held in Iran for almost three years have not had consular services for more than a year prompting Paris to prepare a complaint at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), France's foreign ministry said on Thursday.
Cecile Kohler and her partner Jacques Paris have been held since May 2022. Iranian state television aired a video later that year with them appearing to confess to acting on behalf of French intelligence services, something categorically denied by Paris.
Held in Tehran's Evin prison, France has accused Iran of keeping them in conditions akin to torture.
French officials have toughened their language towards Iran, notably over the advancement of its nuclear program and regional activities, but also the detention of European citizens in the country.
Speaking after a rare cabinet meeting to broadly discuss Iran on Wednesday, France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot indicated Paris would soon take the matter of violating the right to consular protection to the ICJ.
"We are putting together a complaint that we will file at the ICJ," Foreign ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine told reporters at a news conference on Thursday, adding that the Kohler and Paris were being held in "shocking" conditions.
According to Reuters, Lemoine declined to say when it would be filed and acknowledged that procedures at the ICJ were long, but insisted that Tehran needed to be called out on the issue because the embassy and consulate had not had access to their citizens for more than a year.
"It's in violation of Iran's obligations," he said, citing the Vienna convention on consular relations.
In recent years, Iran's Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security.
Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests.
Iran, which does not recognize dual nationality, denies taking prisoners to gain diplomatic leverage.