Tehran, Iran

The International Atomic Energy Agency has warned against Iranian expansion of uranium beyond the highly enriched threshold of 20 per cent purity.

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The UN nuclear watchdog said it will ''increase the frequency and intensity of its safeguards activities'' at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility 250 km (155 miles) south of the Iranian capital Tehran. 

Earlier, Iran was already enriching its uranium to 60 per cent at the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP). The 20 per cent addition will push it closer to the weapons-grade category which lies at 90 per cent.

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The West has slammed the enrichment process as it is irreversible. However, since this time the new activity does not involve keeping the product, it will not immediately accelerate Iran's production of uranium enriched to close to weapons-grade.

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IAEA chief Raffael Gross said he was still waiting for a "high level" discussion with Iranian officials in Tehran, as had been decided on in September.

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"We agreed that there would be a high-level discussion, and this has not materialised yet," Grossi told reporters in Washington. "I hope that this will be done soon."

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The agreement between Iran and world powers to find a long-term solution to the now two-decade-old crisis over its controversial nuclear programme has been moribund since former US President Donald Trump walked out of the deal in May 2018 and imposed sweeping sanctions.

His successor Joe Biden has said he is ready to re-enter the agreement, so long as Iran meets key preconditions including full compliance with the deal whose terms it has repeatedly violated by ramping up nuclear activities since the US left the pact.

But the Vienna-based talks through intermediaries made little headway, before being interrupted by the election of hardliner Ebrahim Raisi as Iran's president and suspended for the last four months.