Iran has taken a major step towards acquiring a nuclear weapon, it emerged on Sunday, after Western diplomats revealed that it has enriched uranium to its highest levels so far, standing just short of the threshold for a bomb.
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] found enrichment levels of 84 per cent at Iran’s nuclear sites, the highest levels recorded so far and just six per cent shy of the threshold for acquiring a nuclear weapon.
… It also increases the risk of a major confrontation between Iran and Israel, its arch foe which regards the nuclear programme as an existential threat. Israel is suspected of carrying out a series of surgical strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in recent years to slow down the Iranian weapons programme.
