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Iran restarts nuclear production at site it accused Mossad of blowing up

U.S. officials say that Iran ramping up production of centrifuges used to enrich uranium.

By World Israel News Staff

Iran is taking advantage of the remaining two weeks before nuclear agreement talks are set to resume by stepping up production of sensitive nuclear equipment, including advanced centrifuges, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Unnamed U.S. security officials told the Journal that Iran has completed production of parts for some 170 advanced centrifuges Karaj facility, which was previously targeted in an explosion widely attributed to Israel, since August 2021.

The International Atomic Energy Agency watchdog group does not have access to Karaj, meaning that activity at the site is unmonitored. IAEA director Rafael Grossi said that a camera at the site was damaged after the blast in June 2021, rendering it unusable.

Centrifuges are used to spin and enrich uranium to higher purity. Nuclear weapons use 90 percent pure uranium. The previous nuclear deal forbade Iran from enriching uranium to over 3.67 percent purity.

In early November, the Islamic Republic announced that it had doubled its stockpile of enriched uranium.

“We have more than 210 kilograms of uranium enriched to 20 percent, and we’ve produced 25 kilos at 60%, a level that no country apart from those with nuclear arms are able to produce,” said Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi told state-run news agencies.

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With Iran agreeing to return to the negotiating table with Western countries on November 29, it appears that Tehran is making the most of the time before it potentially agrees to suspend parts of its nuclear program.

Frustrated by what it perceives as Western foot dragging on the nuclear threat, the Israeli government has made a number of statements indicating that it will act alone to mitigate the risks of a nuclear Iran.

“We are dealing with Iran and its proxies, in Lebanon and Syria. No matter what happens between Iran and the world powers — and we are certainly concerned about the fact that there is insufficient severity in dealing with Iranian violations — Israel will protect itself with its own forces,” said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett during a military drill in northern Israel on Tuesday.