March
5, 2023
While
the international community was focused on the anniversary of Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine, inspectors from the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), discovered uranium residue enriched
to 84 percent in Iranian centrifuge cascades. Weapons-grade fissile material is
typically characterized as uranium enriched to 90 percent, but it is worth
recalling that the U.S. atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in August 1945 was a
fission weapon enriched to an average of 80 percent. The Iranians may claim
that they are not enriching beyond 60 percent, and that these are mere
particles, but the discovery should set off alarm bells.
