Iran Asks Watchdog Not to Publish 'Unnecessary' Nuke Details

Iran urged the United Nations' nuclear watchdog to avoid publishing “unnecessary” details on Tehran’s nuclear program, state TV reported Sunday, a day after Germany, France and Britain said Tehran has “no credible civilian use” for its development of uranium metal.
The report quoted a statement from
Iran’s nuclear department that asked the International Atomic Energy Agency to
avoid publishing details on Iran’s nuclear program that may cause confusion.
“It is expected the international atomic energy
agency avoid providing unnecessary details and prevent paving ground for
misunderstanding” in the international community, the statement said. It did
not elaborate.
On Saturday, Germany, France and
Britain pressed Iran to back off 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 a nuclear bomb, something Iran insists it does not want to
do, The Associated Press reported.
“Iran has no credible civilian use for uranium
metal,” they said in a joint statement.
“The production of uranium metal has potentially
grave military implications.”
On Thursday, the IAEA said Iran
had informed it that it had begun installing equipment for the production of
uranium metal. It said Tehran maintains its plans to conduct research and
development on uranium metal production are part of its “declared aim to design
an improved type of fuel.”
Iran reacted to the European
statement Sunday saying Iran informed the UN nuclear watchdog nearly two
decades ago of its plans for the “peaceful and conventional” production of
uranium metal. It also said it provided updated information to the agency two
years ago about its plans to produce silicide advanced fuel.
The statement said uranium metal
is an “intermediate product” in the manufacture of uranium silicide, a fuel
used in nuclear reactors that is safer and has more power capability than
uranium oxide-based fuel, which Iran currently produces.
The three European nations
alongside the US, Russia and China signed the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that
prohibited research and production of uranium metal.
President Donald Trump in 2018
unilaterally withdrew the US from Iran’s nuclear deal, in which Tehran had
agreed to limit its uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
After the US then ramped up sanctions, Iran gradually and publicly abandoned
the deal’s limits on 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 return the US to the deal.