IRAN has said that the “surprising” accusation by international inspectors on Thursday that it had enriched uranium to 84 per cent purity for the first time was either an “error” or a “deliberate” political action.

The finding by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would put the Islamic Republic closer than ever to the 90 per cent required to produce nuclear weapons-grade material.

This renews pressure on the West to address Tehran’s programme, which had been contained by the 2015 nuclear deal from which the United States withdrew unilaterally in 2018.

Already, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is threatening to take military action similar to his country’s previous aerial bombing of nuclear facilities in Iraq and Syria.

But while those attacks, in 1981 and 2007 respectively, did not trigger war, Iran has an arsenal of ballistic missiles, drones and other weaponry that it and its allies have already used in the region.

Iran’s acknowledgment of the IAEA allegation appeared on Nour News, a website linked to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, overseen by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The IAEA said that it was discussing with Iran “the results of recent agency verification activities.”

In a comment on Thursday, Nour News urged the IAEA to “not fall prey to the seduction of Western countries” and instead to declare that Iran’s nuclear programme was “completely peaceful.”

Posting on Twitter, Nour News said: “It will be clear soon that the IAEA surprising report of discovering 84 per cent enriched uranium particles in Iran’s enrichment facilities was an inspector’s error or was a deliberate action to create political atmospheres against Iran on the eve of the meeting of [its board].”

While IAEA director-general Rafael Grossi has warned that Iran now has enough uranium to produce “several” nuclear bombs if it chooses to do so, it would probably take months more to build a weapon and potentially miniaturise it for firing on a missile.