U.N. atomic agency inspectors reportedly discovered last week that Iran's controversial uranium enrichment has reached 84% purity, Bloomberg reported on Sunday.
This would put Iran extremely close to the 90% level required in order to produce a nuclear weapon. If the enrichment increase were confirmed, it would constitute a dramatic escalation from Iran's previously known 60% enrichment level.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is reportedly in talks with the Iranian ayatollah regime concerning Tehran's uranium enrichment violations.
"The IAEA is aware of recent media reports relating to uranium enrichment levels in Iran," the U.N. nuclear watchdog stated on Sunday.
"The IAEA is discussing with Iran the results of recent Agency verification activities and will inform the IAEA Board of Governors as appropriate," the IAEA added.
Iran responded on Monday by denying that it is conducting enrichment at weapons-grade levels.
"So far, we have not made any attempt to enrich above 60%. The presence of particles above 60% enrichment does not mean production with an enrichment above 60%," said Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesperson for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization.
The Iranian regime has consistently denied that it seeks nuclear weapons. The ayatollah regime's "supreme leader" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has even claimed that nuclear weapons are forbidden according to Islam.
"Although we could have taken steps on this path, based on Islamic ruling we firmly and bravely said we won't take this path," Khamenei stated in 2019.
"Both building and stockpiling it is wrong, as using it is haram," Khamenei tweeted.
"If we had a nuclear weapon, it would have been obvious that it would have been impossible for us to use anywhere," claimed the ayatollah regime's leader.
The Iranian regime insists that its nuclear program is merely designed for peaceful civilian purposes.
However, few observers in the Middle East or the international community believe in the Iranian regime's statement, given its long history of deceit and disinformation.
Iran is one of the world's largest oil producers. Pundits, therefore, argue that there is no financial incentive for the Iranian regime to invest billions of dollars in a nuclear program merely for civilian energy purposes.
Much of the Arab world is concerned about Iran's controversial nuclear program. There are fears that a nuclear-armed Iran would trigger a dangerous nuclear arms race in the already combustible Middle East region.
One country, which is particularly concerned, is Israel due to the ayatollah regime's repeatedly declared goal to wipe the Jewish state off the map.
In a candid 2002 sermon, former Iranian President Ali Akhbar Hashemi Rafsanjani admitted that the ayatollah regime believes that most of Israel can be destroyed with only one nuclear weapon due to the country's minuscule size.
"If one day, the world of Islam comes to possess the weapons currently in Israel's possession [meaning nuclear weapons] – on that day this method of global arrogance would come to a dead end. This, he said, is because the use of a nuclear bomb in Israel will leave nothing on the ground, whereas it will only damage the world of Islam," Rafsanjani stated.
Iran is vast country that is approximately 100 times larger than Israel and far larger than the combined territory of Germany, France, and Britain.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed for years to prevent the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear weapons. Netanyahu has stressed that the Jewish state would ultimately use military force against Iran if the international community does not stop its nuclear program.
In November 2022, Likud MK Tzachi Hanegbi, a close Netanyahu ally and senior national security official, told Israeli media that Netanyahu is prepared to order a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities if the Biden administration does not stop Tehran's quest for nuclear weapons.
"Israel will, for the first time, be facing a regime with nuclear weapons," Hanegbi warned, stressing that Netanyahu "will not be reconciled with a nuclear Iran."
"In my assessment, he'll have no choice: This is the story of 1981 –[Menachem] Begin, 2007 – [Ehud] Olmert, 2022 …" Hanegbi added with a reference to Israel's previous strikes against nuclear plants in Iraq and Syria.
This article originally appeared on ALL ISRAEL NEWS and is reposted with permission.