IAEA: Iran doubled production capacity at Fordo nuclear site

GlobalPost

Iran has doubled its production capacity at the Fordo nuclear site, according to a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

According to the BBC, the IAEA also said in the report that Iran had "signficantly hampered" the agency's ability to inspect other military sites. The IAEA is the nuclear watchdog of the United Nations.

The report's findings have caused the White House to warn that “the window that is open now to resolve this diplomatically will not remain open indefinitely," The New York Times reported.

Iran claims that the report was politically motivated.

"Publishing this report while Iran is holding the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) meeting does not mean anything other than it was a political move aimed at overshadowing the meeting in Tehran," lawmaker Kazem Jalali told the ISNA news agency, Reuters reported. 

Speaking at the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran yesterday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Syyed Ali Khamenei denied claims that Iran was building a nuclear weapon, telling leaders of developing countries that "the Islamic Republic of Iran considers the use of nuclear, chemical and similar weapons as a great and unforgivable sin." 

Iran has been accused time and again for attempting to build nuclear weapons under the pretense that they're only attempting to harness nuclear energy for electricity.

The IAEA report will do nothing to ease international concerns, Reuters said, and Iran is already suffering the pressures of harsh US-imposed sanctions.  

Sign up for our daily newsletter

Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.