The International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspectors confirmed on Monday that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium climbed 17% from three months ago, bringing the country closer to obtaining the material needed to build a nuclear bomb.
Following the deaths of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a helicopter crash earlier this month, which prompted the country to hold unexpected but highly anticipated presidential elections, this was the agency’s first uranium evaluation.
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“Further public statements made in Iran during this reporting period regarding its technical capabilities to produce nuclear weapons and possibly changes to Iran’s nuclear doctrine only increased concerns about the correctness and completeness of Iran’s safeguards declarations,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi wrote in his report, according to Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, Iran’s new parliament met, with 290 MPs taking their oaths, according to state-run PressTV. Officials announced that a runoff would decide the remaining few seats.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei told the assembly that it was critical for them to strengthen Iran’s “religious democracy” and that they must serve the entire country’s interests rather than simply the area from which they were elected.
Vice President Mohammad Mokhber serves as interim head of the country’s executive branch.
