Iran continues to enrich uranium well above the concentration required for commercial use, reaching a level of 60%, close to that used for nuclear weapons, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director Rafael Grossi said on Monday, as quoted by Reuters.

The official informed the ministers of foreign affairs of the countries of the European Union, who gathered in Brussels, about the Iranian nuclear program, which continues despite the pressure of the UN, reports Aerpres.

He later told Reuters that Iran’s current rate of enriched uranium production is seven kilograms per month, slightly lower than at the end of last year.

According to information released by the IAEA, from June to November the norm was reduced to three kilograms per month, but at the end of 2023 it increased to nine kilograms per month. At the same time, Tehran denied access to the third group of IAEA inspectors, the most experienced, to monitor the process.

Grossi said he wanted to make another visit to Tehran a year after the previous one, to prevent further rifts.

According to the agreement concluded in 2015 with international powers, Iran was supposed to limit the level of uranium enrichment to 3.67%, but after former US President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the agreement in 2018 and reimposed sanctions against the regime in Tehrani, the Iranian side no longer followed the restriction.

Although Iran has exceeded the concentration needed to use uranium for peaceful purposes, such as power generation in nuclear power plants, Iran continues to maintain that it has no intention of developing nuclear weapons.

The director of the IAEA noted, however, that changes in the pace of uranium enrichment do not change the main evolution – the constant increase in the stockpile of concentrated uranium available to Iran. The agency has already warned that exceeding the concentration threshold of 60% would allow the production of three atomic bombs.