The logo of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is seen at their headquarters during a board of governors meeting, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Vienna, Austria, June 7, 2021. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

i24 News – International nuclear inspectors posted to Iran detected last week uranium enriched to levels just below the threshold for an atom bomb, Bloomberg reported Sunday, citing “two senior diplomats.”

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitors detected uranium enriched to 84 percent, the report said, the highest level found to date in the Islamic Republic.

The outstanding question, it is understood, is whether Iran produced the material intentionally; there is a possibility that the concentration of uranium occurred accidentally within the network of pipes connecting the hundreds of fast-spinning nuclear centrifuges.

Negotiations on Tehran’s contested nuclear policy with the West aimed at reviving a 2015 accord have been in the doldrums for several months and it appears that Washington accepts that diplomatic talks with the Islamic Republic reached a dead end.

There are pressing concerns regarding Tehran’s burgeoning military alliance with Moscow, which sees the two rogue nations developing a “full-fledged defense partnership.”