Iran Is ‘Pressing the Gas Pedal’ on Uranium Enrichment, IAEA Chief Says 

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks at the Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks at the Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP)
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Iran Is ‘Pressing the Gas Pedal’ on Uranium Enrichment, IAEA Chief Says 

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks at the Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP)
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks at the Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP)

Iran is "pressing the gas pedal" on its enrichment of uranium to near weapons grade, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday, adding that Iran's recently announced acceleration in enrichment was starting to take effect.

Grossi said last month that Iran had informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it would "dramatically" accelerate enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, closer to the roughly 90% of weapons grade.

Western powers called the step a serious escalation and said there was no civil justification for enriching to that level and that no other country had done so without producing nuclear weapons. Iran has said its program is entirely peaceful and it has the right to enrich uranium to any level it wants.

"Before it was (producing) more or less seven kilograms (of uranium enriched to up to 60%) per month, now it's above 30 or more than that. So I think this is a clear indication of an acceleration. They are pressing the gas pedal," Grossi told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

According to an International Atomic Energy Agency yardstick, about 42 kg of uranium enriched to that level is enough in principle, if enriched further, for one nuclear bomb. Grossi said Iran currently had about 200 kg of uranium enriched to up to 60%.

Still, he said it would take time to install and bring online the extra centrifuges - machines that enrich uranium - but that the acceleration was starting to happen.

"We are going to start seeing steady increases from now," he said.

Grossi has called for diplomacy between Iran and the administration of new US President Donald Trump, who in his first term, pulled the United States out of a nuclear deal between Iran and major powers that had imposed strict limits on Iran's atomic activities. That deal has since unraveled.

"One can gather from the first statements from President Trump and some others in the new administration that there is a disposition, so to speak, to have a conversation and perhaps move into some form of an agreement," he said.

Separately, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at Davos that Iran must make a first step towards improving relations with countries in the region and the United States by making it clear it does not aim to develop nuclear weapons.



Trump Tells Putin to Make Ukraine Deal 'Now' or Face Tariffs, Sanctions

 A view shows debris on a road near buildings damaged by Russian military strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows debris on a road near buildings damaged by Russian military strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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Trump Tells Putin to Make Ukraine Deal 'Now' or Face Tariffs, Sanctions

 A view shows debris on a road near buildings damaged by Russian military strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows debris on a road near buildings damaged by Russian military strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine January 21, 2025. (Reuters)

US President Donald Trump told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday to make a deal to end the grinding Ukraine war "now" or face tariff hikes and more sanctions.

"If we don't make a 'deal,' and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries," Trump said on his Truth Social network.

Trump said he was "not looking to hurt Russia" and had "always had a very good relationship with President Putin," a leader for whom he has expressed admiration in the past.

"All of that being said, I'm going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR. Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT'S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE."

Trump was taking a harder line than he had during a White House press conference on Tuesday, when he said it "sounds likely" that he would apply additional sanctions if Putin did not come to the table.

The US president also declined to say whether he would continue his predecessor Joe Biden's policy of sending weapons to Ukraine to fight off Russia's invasion, launched in February 2022.

"We're looking at that," he said at the press conference. "We're talking to (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky, we're going to be talking to President Putin very soon."

Prior to his inauguration on Monday, Trump had vowed to end the Ukraine war before even taking office, raising expectations he would leverage aid to force Kyiv to make concessions to Moscow.

In unusually critical remarks of Putin on Monday, Trump said the Russian president was "destroying Russia by not making a deal."

Trump added that Zelensky had told him he wanted a peace agreement to end the war.