TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iran urged the United Nations nuclear watchdog to avoid publishing “unnecessary” details about Tehran’s nuclear program, state television reported Sunday, a day after Germany, France and Britain. said Tehran has “no credible civilian use” for uranium metal development.
The report quoted a statement from Iran’s nuclear department asking the International Atomic Energy Agency to avoid publishing details about Iran’s nuclear program that could cause confusion.
The International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to avoid providing unnecessary details and pave the way for misunderstandings in the international community, the statement said. It didn’t work out.
On Saturday, Germany, France and Britain pressured Iran to withdraw its plan to develop uranium metal, calling it “the latest planned violation” of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. The goal of the deal is to prevent Iran from developing an atomic bomb, something Iran claims it does not want to do.
Iran has no credible civil use for uranium metal, they said in a joint statement. “Uranium metal production has potentially serious military implications.”
On Thursday, the IAEA said Iran had announced it had begun installing equipment for uranium metal production. It said Tehran is maintaining its plans to conduct research and development in uranium metal production as part of its “ stated goal to design an improved type of fuel. ”
Iran responded to the European statement on Sunday, saying that Iran informed the UN nuclear watchdog of its plans for the “peaceful and conventional” production of uranium metal nearly 20 years ago. It also said it had provided updated information to the agency about its plans to produce advanced silicide fuel two years ago.
According to the statement, uranium metal is an “intermediate” in the manufacture of uranium silicide, a fuel used in nuclear reactors that is safer and more powerful than the uranium oxide fuel that Iran currently produces.
The three European countries besides the US, Russia and China signed the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that banned research and production of uranium metal.
President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from Iran’s nuclear deal in 2018, in which Tehran had agreed to limit uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Subsequently, after the US stepped up sanctions, Iran gradually and publicly left the boundaries of the deal for its nuclear development.
President-elect Joe Biden, who was vice president when the deal was signed during the Obama administration, has said he hopes to bring the US back to the deal.