Iran sticking to nuclear freeze: UN watchdog
UN watchdog has said that Iran is sticking to a six-month nuclear freeze.
VIENNA (AFP) - Iran is sticking to a six-month nuclear freeze agreed under a November interim deal with world powers, the UN atomic agency said in a new report Thursday, a month after the agreement came into force.
The International Atomic Energy Agency update said that uranium enrichment to medium levels -- the main concern to the international community -- "is no longer taking place", as agreed in the deal.
The IAEA also said that a proportion of Iran s medium-enriched uranium stockpile, as set out in the November deal, which took effect on January 20, "is being downblended and the remainder is being converted to uranium oxide".
Enrichment to low purities however "continues at a rate of production similar to that indicated" in the last report from November, meaning that its stockpile of this material rose in the last three months.
This is consistent with the agreement with world powers, as long as by the end of the six-month period on July 20 the stockpile is not higher than at the start.
Iran is currently building a facility to convert this type of material to oxide form, the IAEA report said, from which it would be more difficult to enrich to weapons-grade.
In addition, Iran has not installed any additional uranium enrichment centrifuges at either of its facilities, Natanz and Fordo, according to the IAEA.
Regarding a reactor being constructed at Arak, the IAEA said: "No additional major components have been installed at this reactor and there has been no manufacture and testing of fuel for the reactor."
The agency also said Iran has provided it with a so-called Design Information Questionnaire (DIQ) for Arak, and that access was granted to centrifuge assembly workshops, centrifuge rotor production workshops and storage facilities.
