Tehran, November 11: Iran continues to expand its nuclear stockpile, in violation of the 2015  Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA. The deal inked between Iran and the US, along with its European allies, had allowed Tehran to maintain an uranium stockpile of only 202.8 kilograms (447 pounds). Iran President Hassan Rouhani Calls on US President-Elect Joe Biden to Return to Nuclear Deal.

The latest assessment by the UN nuclear agency has estimated an increase by 12 times as compared to the limit set in the 2015 nuclear deal.A team of the International Atomic Energy Agency, a body of the UN, found that the enriched uranium stockpile of Iran has breached the 2,300 kilograms-mark, reports said.

Update by AFP

The UN inspectors also expressed lack of satisfaction towards Iran's response to the allegation of maintaining an "undeclared" nuclear site. The country is accused of developing an underground centrifuge assembly plant after its previous one in Tehran was destroyed in a "sabotage" attack earlier this year.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's nuclear department, last month told state television the destroyed above-ground facility was being replaced with one in the heart of the mountains around Natanz. Natanz hosts the country's main uranium enrichment facility. In its long underground halls, centrifuges rapidly spin uranium hexafluoride gas to enrich uranium.

Analysts claim that Iran's nuclear policy took an aggressive turn following the pull-out of the US from the JCPOA deal in 2017. With sanctions again slapped on the nation, the Iranian regime resorted to the development of its nuclear programme. The move, claimed several critics of US President Donald Trump, has left Israel in a more precarious situation.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 11, 2020 10:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).