US calls on Iran to halt ‘nuclear escalations’

UN nuclear agency reports Iranian progress on uranium metal production as the US warns it threatens nuclear talks.

Iran has made progress in its work on enriched uranium metal, the UN nuclear watchdog said in a report to member states, despite Western warnings that such work threatens talks on reviving the Iran nuclear deal. The United States responded to the report by demanding that Tehran halt its “nuclear escalations”. Iran’s work on enriched uranium metal has angered Europe’s three top powers and the US because that technology – and knowledge of how to produce it – can be used to make the core of a nuclear weapon. Iran insists its aims are entirely peaceful and it is developing a new type of reactor fuel.