Iran Has Ramped Up Uranium Enrichment While Continuing Nuclear Talks

Iran has roughly doubled its stockpile of near-bomb-grade uranium over the past three months even while negotiating with the Trump administration over a deal to limit its nuclear program, according to a confidential report that the United Nations’ nuclear inspection agency has begun circulating to capitals around the world.

The increase gives Tehran the capability to produce bomb-grade fuel for roughly 10 weapons, up from around five or six when President Trump was inaugurated in January. But the surge also puts new pressure on Washington in its negotiations, in which it is demanding that Iran cease all production of nuclear material.

Mr. Trump predicted last weekend that there could be an agreement with Iran within days. That did not happen, but on Friday he expressed optimism that it would come soon.

A pair of reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency, obtained by The New York Times, portray an Iranian regime that has decided to surge ahead with its production, presumably to gain leverage in negotiations headed by Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s envoy for the Middle East. He began negotiations with Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, in early April.

The director general of the I.A.E.A., Rafael M. Grossi, said the report indicated that “we need to get to a diplomatic resolution, under a very robust I.A.E.A. inspection system.” In recent years, Iran has disabled many of the agency’s cameras and sensors at key sites, but has allowed inspectors to come into the country and measure its growing stockpiles of enriched uranium.

In one of the reports — a quarterly assessment of Iran’s nuclear production and stockpiles — Mr. Grossi wrote that “the significantly increased production and accumulation of highly enriched uranium by Iran, the only non-nuclear-weapon state to produce such nuclear material, is of serious concern.”