Iran Suggests Pausing High Levels of Uranium Enrichment to Avoid Censure, Monitor Says

Iran has raised the possibility it would stop expanding its stockpile of uranium enriched to a purity of 60 percent — very close to the level needed for a weapon, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog says.

Iran is dangling the possibility of halting its production of near-bomb-grade nuclear fuel in exchange for avoiding formal condemnation for its years of blocking some United Nations nuclear inspectors from doing their jobs, according to atomic experts and a report from the U.N.’s nuclear monitoring arm.

The report, dated Tuesday and circulating privately among member states of the monitor — the International Atomic Energy Agency — says that during meetings the agency held in Tehran on Nov. 14, Iran raised the possibility that it would stop expanding its stockpile of uranium enriched to a purity of 60 percent, very close to the level needed for a weapon.

On Nov. 16, the report added, the monitoring agency verified that Iran had “begun implementation of preparatory measures aimed at stopping the increase of its stockpile” at its two major enrichment sites.

David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, a private group in Washington that tracks nuclear proliferation, said Iran’s move came amid its “continued lack of cooperation” with U.N. inspectors.

“Now it’s offering to cap its production in exchange for the I.A.E.A. board abandoning its push for a resolution” that would condemn Iran’s lack of cooperation, he said.

The agency’s board of member states is meeting from Wednesday to Friday and will take up the resolution in a vote. If the measure passes, it would lead to a formal, detailed report that could ultimately send the issue to the U.N. Security Council for possible retaliatory measures against Iran.

It’s unclear if European nations in particular are willing to delay a censure of Iran for blocking some inspectors from key nuclear sites and for dismantling cameras and other monitoring gear there. A companion to the new report indicated that U.N. inspectors still cannot gain access to a number of key nuclear sites, including ones that have been off limits for years, and the agency said it could no longer guarantee that nuclear fuel hasn’t been diverted to clandestine facilities.

During the visit to Tehran by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, the Iranians told of preparations to halt the enrichment process that has most worried American, European and Israeli officials, presumably in a show of seriousness.

“I hope it doesn’t happen,” Dr. Albright said of the possibility that the agency could drop its censure move. “An enrichment cap would be meaningless because Iran could restart production at a moment’s notice,” he said, “and it already has enough material in its stockpile to make enough fuel for four or five nuclear weapons.”

The report said that during the last reporting period, Iran added 35 pounds to its stockpile of uranium enriched to a purity of 60 percent. That’s about 10 percent of what it has produced since it began its push in early 2021 to make the near-bomb-grade material.

The report offered no indication that Iran was receiving technical help in its nuclear program from Russia, presumably in return for its help in Moscow’s war in Ukraine. The U.S. secretary of state, Antony J. Blinken, made that assertion more than a month ago in a speech, but offered no details about what kind of help Iran was receiving.

Farnaz Fassihi and David E. Sanger contributed reporting.

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