Iran tells inspectors it plans up to 20% enrichment at Fordo

Iran has told international nuclear inspectors it plans to enrich uranium up to 20% at its underground Fordo nuclear facility, a technical step away from weapons-grade levels, as it increases pressure on West over its tattered atomic deal.

Iran's state-run IRNA news ncy ackwledged step after news of a letter it sent to International Atomic Energy ncy leaked overnight Friday. Russia's representative to IAEA similarly ackwledged Iran's letter on Twitter, though ncy did t immediately respond to a request for comment early Saturday.

move comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and U.S. in waning days of administration of President Donald Trump, who unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran's nuclear deal in 2018. That set in motion an escalating series of incidents capped by a U.S. drone strike killing a top Iranian general in Baghdad a year ago, an anniversary coming Sunday that has American officials w worried about possible retaliation by Iran.

decision comes after parliament passed a bill , later approved by a constitutional watchdog, aimed at hiking enrichment to pressure Europe into providing sanctions relief.

Mikhail Ulyav, Russia's permanent representative to Vienna-based IAEA, wrote on Twitter that Tehran planned to resume enrichment up to 20% after Wall Street Journal broke news.

IRNA later reported Ulyav's comments, linking decision to parliament bill aimed at restarting higher enrichment at Iran's underground Fordo facility.

Since deal’s collapse, Iran has resumed enrichment at Fordo , near holy Shiite city of Qom, some 90 kilometers (55 miles) southwest of Tehran.

Shielded by mountains, Fordo is ringed by anti-aircraft guns and or fortifications. It is about size of a football field, large eugh to house 3,000 centrifuges, but small and hardened eugh to lead U.S. officials to suspect it had a military purpose when y exposed site publicly in 2009.

As of w, Iran is enriching uranium up to 4.5%, in violation of accord’s limit of 3.67%. Experts say Iran w has eugh low-enriched uranium stockpiled for at least two nuclear weapons, if it chose to pursue m. Iran long has maintained its nuclear program is peaceful.

Iran separately has begun construction on a new site at its underground nuclear facility at Fordo, according to satellite photos obtained by Associated Press in December.

Im credits: AP