A law whereby Iran’s scientists can enrich uranium to a level of 20 per cent went into effect on Tuesday.
The law which is a milestone in the country’s incremental violation of a 2015 deal with world powers to curb its nuclear activities.
Currently, Iran is enriching its uranium to a level of just under 5 per cent, even though the 2015 agreement limits it to 3.67 per cent.
An enrichment level of about 90 per cent is needed to create an atomic bomb.
The new law allows annual production of 120 kilograms at the 20 per cent level.
It also allows the country’s atomic agency to produce 500 kilogrammes of less-enriched uranium a month.
Under the law, the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) is also instructed to facilitate the creation of faster centrifuges so that they can be put to use in at least two facilities.
A 2015 agreement between Iran and other countries required it to limit production to low-enriched uranium, good for only civil purposes, in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.
But after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal, Iran said it no longer feels bound by the agreement.
Since then, it has violated the limitations set down several times.
