USA

Russia taking highly enriched uranium from Iran under discussion

Russia is open to removing highly enriched uranium, a critical component of developing nuclear weapons, from Iran, the head of the U.N. nuclear agency said Tuesday.

Rafael Grossi emphasized the importance of ensuring that Iran loses this supply or its enrichment is diluted. Associated Press.

Grossi leads the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which aims to prevent the military use of nuclear weapons. Its nuclear chief told the AP last year that Iran’s stockpile could allow it to produce up to 10 nuclear bombs.

President Trump cited Iran’s nuclear capabilities as one of the main reasons he launched a war against Iran that lasted more than 60 days.

On Wednesday, Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to help “enrich” during a phone call between the two leaders, likely referring to the proposed enriched uranium extraction process.

“He told me he wanted to be involved in enrichment if he could help us. I said, ‘I’d rather you be involved in ending the war with Ukraine.’ “To me, that would be more important,” Trump said, referring to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

The United States and Israel launched a joint military attack on Iran at the end of February, at a time when nuclear deal negotiations were stalled. The two countries had previously attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities last June, including the Isfahan complex, the country’s largest atomic research center.

Grossi told the AP on Tuesday that the IAEA had obtained satellite images of Isfahan showing the consequences of those attacks.

While the nuclear chief said that this information gathering process is still ongoing, he said that the agency believes that a large portion of the country’s enriched uranium supply is stored at the nuclear facility.

“We could not inspect or deny that the material was there and the seals (IAEA seals) remained there,” he said. “Hopefully we can make it happen, so what I tell you is our best guess.”

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