IAEA head calls Iran's nuclear programme "very concerning"

The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency called Iran's uranium enrichment programme "very concerning" in an interview with the Financial Times published on Wednesday.

Iran was enriching uranium at purity levels that "only countries making bombs are reaching", Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the newspaper.

His comments come as Iran and global powers negotiate in Vienna to work out steps that it and the United States must take on sanctions and nuclear activities to return to full compliance with its 2015 nuclear pact with world powers.

The United States withdrew from the deal in 2018, prompting Iran to steadily overstep the accord's limits on its nuclear programme designed to make it harder to develop an atomic bomb - an ambition Tehran denies.

"A country enriching at 60 percent is a very serious thing — only countries making bombs are reaching this level," Grossi told the newspaper. "Sixty percent is almost weapons grade, commercial enrichment is 2, 3 (percent)."

He said it was Iran's "sovereign right" to develop its programme but added: "This is a degree that requires a vigilant eye."

Grossi said most measures that Iran had taken could be reversed relatively easily, but he added that the level of research and development that had taken place was an issue.

"You cannot put the genie back into the bottle — once you know how to do stuff, you know, and the only way to check this is through verification," he said.

"The Iranian programme has grown, become more sophisticated so the linear return to 2015 is no longer possible. What you can do is keep their activities below the parameters of 2015."