Iran defies Biden, UN by enriching uranium for nuclear weapons program

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JERUSALEM - The Islamic Republic of Iran retaliated against the Biden administration’s support of a mild U.N. watchdog agency rebuke of Tehran for its work on its covert illicit nuclear weapons program this week.

The U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said its inspectors had verified Monday that Iran has begun feeding uranium into three cascades of advanced IR-4 and IR-6 centrifuges at its Natanz enrichment facility. Cascades are a group of centrifuges that spin uranium gas together to enrich the uranium more quickly.

So far, Iran has been enriching uranium in those cascades up to 2% purity. Iran already enriches uranium up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

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Last week, Israel’s former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a member of Israel’s parliament (Knesset), told Israel's Army Radio Tuesday Iran is "planning a Holocaust for us in the next two years."

In a statement, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in response to Tehran’s move that "Iran aims to continue expanding its nuclear program in ways that have no credible peaceful purpose."

He added, "These planned actions further undermine Iran’s claims to the contrary. If Iran implements these plans, we will respond accordingly." Miller declined to state what