The reported surge in output — most of it taking place in a new nuclear facility built into the side of a mountain — appeared to underscore a determination by Iranian officials to expand nuclear production despite unprecedented economic sanctions and a threatened military strike by Israel.
U.N. nuclear officials who regularly monitor Iran’s facilities documented a jump of 60 percent in Iran’s total stockpile of so-called medium-enriched uranium, from 159 pounds in mid-May to 255 pounds in mid-August. But the rate of production since May has more than doubled, as more than 300 new gas centrifuges were added to Iran’s underground plant near the city of Qom, inspectors confirmed…
U.N. officials also criticized Iran for refusing to grant IAEA inspectors access to facilities where Iranian scientists are suspected to have carried out nuclear-weapons related experiments in the past. Tehran has sparred for months with the U.N. nuclear watchdog over whether inspectors can examine an Iranian military site known as Parchin, where Iran is believed to have tested a type of detonator used to trigger nuclear explosions.
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