In news likely to stoke risk-aversion, supporting the Yen and CHF and likely underpinning the price of oil, Iran is reported by Fars News, Iran’s semi-official news agency, to be boosting its uranium enrichment to over 3.67% on Sunday.
This follows earlier news this week that the country’s stockpile of 3.67 percent enriched uranium has now passed the 300-kilogram limit set by the 2015 nuclear deal. Citing what it said was an “informed source,” Fars reported that the stockpile was measured and found to have exceeded the agreed limit laid out in the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Iran can only keep a stockpile of no more than 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of low-enriched uranium, under the terms of the nuclear deal which is compared to the 10,000 kilograms (22,046 pounds) of higher-enriched uranium it once had. It is also capped at storing 300 tons of heavy water, which it sells to Oman for use as a coolant in nuclear reactors.