After Natanz Blast, Iran Vows to Ramp Up Uranium Enrichment

Iran warned Tuesday it would start enriching uranium up to 60 percent purity, two days after an explosion it blamed on archenemy Israel hit its key nuclear facility in Natanz.

The announcement cast a shadow over ongoing talks in Vienna aimed at salvaging the tattered 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that former U.S. president Donald Trump abandoned three years ago. Iran said it wrote to the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency to announce "that Iran will start 60 percent enrichment," a move later confirmed by the IAEA. The step will bring Iran closer to the 90 percent purity threshold for military use and shorten its potential "breakout time" to build an atomic bomb, a goal it denies.