An International Atomic Energy Agency report revealed that Iran has started enriching uranium using one of three sets of advanced IR-6 centrifuges, which Tehran recently installed at the underground enrichment plant in Natanz.

Restrictions on the uranium enrichment program are among the most important provisions of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

The confidential IAEA report said Tehran was using a series of up to 174 machines to enrich uranium to a purity of up to 5%.

The report added that of the other two series of IR-6 devices at the underground Natanz plant, one was undergoing passivation, a process that precedes enrichment, and the other had not yet been fed with nuclear material.

Diplomats say the IR-6 centrifuges are the most advanced and far more effective than the first generation of centrifuges allowed by the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers and negotiations have been underway for months to revive it after Washington withdrew from it in 2018.

Reuters reported that Iran has been using IR-6 devices for more than a year at the Natanz facility to reach the rate of uranium enrichment to 60%, which is close to the degree required to manufacture a nuclear weapon.

main requirement

And earlier today, Monday, Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi said - in a press conference in Tehran - that it is not possible to reach an agreement on the nuclear file until the outstanding issues between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency are basically resolved.

Iranian President: It is not possible to reach an agreement on our nuclear file before resolving the outstanding issues between us and the Atomic Energy Agency (Reuters)

"We got the nuclear technology, and no one can take this right away from us at all," Raisi added, adding that his country does not seek to possess a nuclear weapon, "and this type of weapon has no place in our defense strategy."

Reuters quoted a US official as saying that Tehran stipulated the closure of the International Atomic Energy Agency's investigations into 3 Iranian sites containing nuclear facilities, in exchange for returning to implement the terms of the 2015 nuclear agreement.

The US official added that Washington and its partners rejected this Iranian request.

Netanyahu and Lapid

In a related context, Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu said - on Monday - that he came out of his meeting with Prime Minister Yair Lapid more concerned than before, about preventing the return to work on the nuclear agreement with Iran soon.

Netanyahu added that Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz "are doing nothing about the possibility of returning to work under the nuclear deal."

The Prime Minister of Israel held a special session with Netanyahu on Monday afternoon, with the aim of informing him of Tel Aviv's latest moves regarding the possibility of returning to work on the nuclear agreement, especially the contacts made by senior Israeli officials with the US administration in this regard.

The Israeli Prime Minister had previously said at the beginning of his cabinet meeting on Sunday that Israel has been running a multi-system political confrontation for a year, as he put it, aimed at preventing the signing of the new nuclear agreement with Iran.

Lapid added that Israel does not oppose the agreement with Iran, but it can be forced to sign a much better deal without an expiration date.

It is noteworthy that the Iranian nuclear agreement stipulates that Tehran will reduce its nuclear program and impose severe restrictions on it, in exchange for the abolition of sanctions imposed on it by the United States, the European Union and the United Nations.