Iran’s nuclear programme – explainedpublished at 11:23 BST
Ghoncheh Habibiazad
Senior reporter, BBC Persian
Iran’s nuclear programme has been the focus of diplomatic talks, sanctions on Iran, and inspections for decades.
It was often referred to by Donald Trump as the reason the US joined with Israel in launching strikes on the country in late February this year.
Iran maintains its programme is peaceful.
The US and Israel have consistently rejected this and say there have been efforts to develop nuclear weapons.
Under a nuclear deal agreed in 2015, Iran had limited its enrichment to 3.67%, which can be used to produce fuel for commercial nuclear power plants. Weapons-grade uranium is 90% enriched or more.
Iran began openly escalating its enrichment levels after Donald Trump abandoned the previous agreement in 2018.
By June last year, Iran was enriching at 60% and had amassed a stockpile of 400kg, according to the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA).
The IAEA said last week it had been able to conduct a “routine inspection” at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant recently, but it had been almost a year since inspectors had been able to access other nuclear facilities.
