Iran plans to 'significantly increase' enriched uranium production: IAEA

The United Nations nuclear watchdog has saidthat the rate at which Iran can enrich uraniumis "increasingly dramatic."

“Today (Dec 6), the agency is announcing that the production capacity is increasing dramatically of the 60 per cent inventory,” Rafael Grossi, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA said in an interview with the news agency Reuters.

He added that the quantity is set to rise "seven times more" and even more. Previously, the rate was five to seven kg a month.

Grossi's remarks came after the IAEA confirmed on November 29 that Iran plans to install approximately 6,000 additional centrifuges to enhance uranium enrichment.

According to a report by AFP, these centrifuges at the Fordo and Natanz facilities would enable Iran to enrich uranium to levels of up to five per cent, exceeding the 3.67 per cent cap set under the 2015 nuclear agreement.

Iran maintains that its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes. However, the IAEA has pointed out that Iran is the only non-nuclear-weapon state enriching uranium to a level as high as 60 per cent.

Watch |Russia-Ukraine War: Russian Attack Kills 11 In Zaporizhzhia

Israel'will do everything' to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapon

The IAEA chief's remarks came weeks after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to do 'everything' to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

"I will do everything to prevent it from becoming a nuclear (power), I will use all the resources that can be used,"Netanyahutold Israeli broadcaster Channel 14 in an interview on November 28.

The renewed war of words between the West Asian rivals came as the Islamic nation held key nuclear talks with European governments on November 29.

Israel is the region's sole, though undeclared, nuclear-armed state.

It has long made preventing any rival from matching it its top defence priority.

(With inputs from agencies)