Iran nuclear chief: we have technical means to produce atomic bomb, but have no intention of doing so

Currently Iran is enriching uranium to up to 60 per cent fissile purity – 90 per cent is suitable for a nuclear bomb

Meanwhile, Iran says it is ready to restart talks on its contested nuclear programme, but did not say when or where the talks would take place

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Published: 5:42pm, 1 Aug 2022Updated: 6:14pm, 1 Aug 2022

Iran has the technical capability to produce an atomic bomb but has no intention of doing so, Mohammad Eslami, head of the country’s atomic energy organisation, said on Monday, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

Eslami reiterated comments made by Kamal Kharrazi, a senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in July.

Kharrazi’s remarks amounted to a rare suggestion that the Islamic Republic might have an interest in nuclear weapons, which it has long denied seeking.

“As Mr. Kharrazi mentioned, Iran has the technical ability to build an atomic bomb, but such a programme is not on the agenda,” said Eslami.

Iran is already enriching uranium to up to 60 per cent fissile purity, far above a cap of 3.67 per cent set under Tehran’s now tattered 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Uranium enriched to 90 per cent is suitable for a nuclear bomb.

In 2018, former US President Donald Trump ditched the nuclear pact, under which Iran curbed its uranium enrichment work, a potential pathway to nuclear weapons, in exchange for relief from international economic sanctions.