US says Iran has ceased controversial nuclear practice
WASHINGTON - Iran has stopped a controversial practice that could allow it to enrich uranium faster, the United States said on Monday, ceasing an activity one expert saw as violating an interim nuclear deal.
The International Atomic Energy Agency issued a confidential report about Iran to its members on Friday saying that since its previous report in September Iran had intermittently fed natural uranium gas into a so-called IR-5 centrifuge.
The IR-5 is one of several new centrifuge models that Iran has been seeking to develop to replace the erratic, 1970s vintage IR-1 centrifuge that it now uses to produce refined uranium, a material that can be used to produce a nuclear bomb.
Asked about the matter, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters that Iran had agreed to cease injecting the gas into the IR-5 centrifuge.
