IAEA report on Iran likely to boost West’s opposition to Tehran’s fuel swap offer

IAEA report reduces chances of Iran fuel swap deal

VIENNA — A new U.N. nuclear agency report shows that Tehran has now amassed nearly twice as much enriched uranium as the West wants removed from Iran.

That finding is likely to increase Western opposition to a nuclear deal that Iran says would build trust about its atomic activities.

A restricted International Atomic Energy Agency report said Monday that Iran has now stockpiled over 2,400 kilograms of low-enriched uranium. That is twice the amount needed to make fissile nuclear warhead material.

Iran has stalled for seven months on a deal to remove about half that amount of uranium and turning it into nuclear fuel. Iran now is ready to accept the Western plan — but with the extra enriched material it has produced, Iran would still have enough to make a weapons-grade bomb.