Iran begun enriching uranium up to 60% purity at Natanz nuclear facility, days after an explosion at the site that Tehran blamed on Israel, reports reuters on Friday.

“We are now getting nine grams [almost a third of an ounce] per hour,” Ali Akbar Salehi of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said on state television, after Tasnim news agency reported that production was under way at the Natanz nuclear facility.

Earlier, the speaker of Iran’s parliament said Iranian scientists had successfully started enriching 60 percent uranium at 12.40am (20:10 GMT on Thursday).

The comment by Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, quoted by state television, did not elaborate on the amount Iran planned to enrich.

However, it is likely to raise tensions even as Iran negotiates with world powers in Vienna over a way to allow the US back into the agreement and lift the crushing economic sanctions it faces.

S/A/16/04/2021