IAEA chief: Iran is poised to 'quite dramatically' increase stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Iran is poised to “quite dramatically” increase its stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium as it has started cascades of advanced centrifuges, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency warned Friday.

The comments from Rafael Mariano Grossi came just hours after Iran said it conducted a successful space launch with its heaviest payload ever, the latest for its program that the West alleges improves Tehran’s ballistic missile program.

The launch of the Simorgh rocket comes as Iran’s nuclear program now enriches uranium at 60%, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%. While Iran maintains its program is peaceful, officials in the Islamic Republic increasingly threaten to potentially seek the bomb and an intercontinental ballistic missile that would allow Tehran to use the weapon against distant foes like the United States.

The moves are likely to further raise tensions gripping the wider Middle East over Israel’s continued war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip and as an uneasy ceasefire holds in Lebanon. However, Iran may as well be preparing the ground for possible talks with the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who in his first term unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.

The U.S. intelligence community in a report released Thursday said that while “Iran is not building a nuclear weapon” it has “undertaken activities that better position it to produce one, if it so chooses.”

The Iranian debate over seeking the bomb “risks emboldening nuclear weapons advocates within Iran’s decision-making apparatus and shifting the thinking of current and future Iranian elites about the utility of nuclear weapons,” the report added.

Grossi, speaking to journalists in Bahrain, on the sidelines of the International Institute of Strategic Studies’ Manama Dialogue, said his inspectors planned to see just how many centrifuges Iran would be spinning after Tehran informed his agency of its plans.

“I think it is very concerning,” Grossi said. “They were preparing and they have all of these facilities sort of in abeyance and now they are activating that. So we are going to see.”

He added: “If they really make them turn — all of them — it's going to be a huge jump.”

An IAEA statement issued shortly after Grossi's remarks said Iran had begun feeding two cascades of advanced IR-6 centrifuges with uranium previously enriched up to 20% at its underground Fordo facility. That site is located under a mountain, protecting it from airstrikes.

Cascades are a group of centrifuges that spin uranium gas together to more quickly enrich the uranium. The IR-6 centrifuges enrich uranium faster than Iran’s baseline IR-1 centrifuges, which have been the workhorse of the country’s atomic program. Adding 20% uranium, as opposed to 5% uranium previously planned, further speeds up that process.

“The facility’s updated design information showed that the effect of this change would be to significantly increase the rate of production,” the IAEA statement said. Iran separately will start feeding natural uranium into eight other IR-6 cascades at Fordo as well to produce 5%-enriched uranium, it added.

The IAEA warned in late November that Iran was preparing to begin enriching uranium with thousands of advanced centrifuges. That came as a response to the Board of Governors at the IAEA condemning Iran for failing to cooperate fully with the agency.

Iran did not acknowledge the preparations. The Iranian mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, the launch Friday took place at Iran’s Imam Khomeini Spaceport in rural Semnan province, some 220 kilometers (135 miles) east of Tehran. That’s the site of Iran’s civilian space program, which has suffered a series of failed Simorgh launches in the past.

The Simorgh carried what Iran described as an “orbital propulsion system,” as well as two research systems to a 400-kilometer (250-mile) orbit above the Earth. A system that could change the orbit of a spacecraft would allow Iran to geo-synchronize the orbits of its satellites, a capability Tehran has long sought.

It also carried the Fakhr-1 satellite for Iran’s military, the first time Iran’s civilian program is known to have carried a military payload.

Iran also put the payload of the Simorgh at 300 kilograms (660 pounds), heavier than all its previous successful launches within the country. State television carried footage of a correspondent discussing the payload just as the Simorgh lifted off into the sky, as people called out: “God is the greatest!”

The U.S. military referred questions about the launch to the country’s Space Command, which did not respond. Space experts said tracking data appeared to show the launch successfully put objects in orbit.

The United States has previously said Iran’s satellite launches defy a U.N. Security Council resolution and called on Tehran to undertake no activity involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. U.N. sanctions related to Iran’s ballistic missile program expired in October 2023.

“Iran’s work on space-launch vehicles — including its Simorgh — probably would shorten the timeline to produce an intercontinental ballistic missile, if it decided to develop one, because the systems use similar technologies,” a U.S. intelligence community report released in July said.

Iran has always denied seeking nuclear weapons and says its space program, like its nuclear activities, is for purely civilian purposes. However, U.S. intelligence agencies and the IAEA say Iran had an organized military nuclear program up until 2003.

Under Iran’s relatively moderate former President Hassan Rouhani, the Islamic Republic slowed its space program for fear of raising tensions with the West. The late hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, a protégé of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who came to power in 2021, pushed the program forward. Raisi died in a helicopter crash in May.

Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, who has been signaling he wants to negotiate with the West over sanctions, has yet to offer a strategy when it comes to Iran’s ambitions in space. The Simorgh launch represented the first for his administration from the country’s civil space program. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard conducted a successful launch of its parallel program in September.

Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, and Stephanie Liechtenstein in Vienna contributed to this report.

The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Additional AP coverage of the nuclear landscape: https://apnews.com/projects/the-new-nuclear-landscape/

FILE - International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi during a meeting with the Japanese government in Tokyo Thursday, March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool, File)

This photo released by the official website of the Iranian Defense Ministry on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, shows the launching of Simorgh, or "Phoenix," rocket at Iran's Imam Khomeini Spaceport in rural Semnan province, Iran. (Iranian Defense Ministry via AP)

This photo released by the official website of the Iranian Defense Ministry on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, shows the launching of Simorgh, or "Phoenix," rocket at Iran's Imam Khomeini Spaceport in rural Semnan province, Iran. (Iranian Defense Ministry via AP)

This photo released by the official website of the Iranian Defense Ministry on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, shows Simorgh, or "Phoenix," rocket before being launched at Iran's Imam Khomeini Spaceport in rural Semnan province, Iran. (Iranian Defense Ministry via AP)

This photo released by the official website of the Iranian Defense Ministry on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, shows the launching of Simorgh, or "Phoenix," rocket at Iran's Imam Khomeini Spaceport in rural Semnan province, Iran. (Iranian Defense Ministry via AP)

Aaron Glenn is back where his NFL journey began nearly 31 years ago.

He was a game-changing cornerback for the New York Jets then. Now he's tasked with helping turn around the fortunes of the franchise.

The Jets and Glenn agreed to terms Wednesday on making the Detroit Lions defensive coordinator their head coach, a person with knowledge of the hiring told The Associated Press. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the team had not yet announced the hiring, which has first reported by ESPN.

Glenn, who oversaw the Lions' defense the past four years, beat out 15 other candidates for the job as the Jets went through an extensive search to find their next coach.

And they ended up choosing one of their former players — a first-round draft pick in 1994 who was mentored by Bill Parcells, became one of the Jets' best playmakers and developed into a well-respected and highly sought coach.

The 52-year-old Glenn, who turned Detroit’s defense into one of the best in the league, interviewed with Washington, Atlanta, Tennessee and the Los Angeles Chargers last year. And he met with the Jets, Jacksonville, Las Vegas and Chicago this year.

Glenn spoke with the Jets during a video call on Jan. 9 and then interviewed in person Tuesday.

The Jets also interviewed Brian Flores, Jeff Hafley, Vance Joseph, Mike Locksley, Josh McCown, Matt Nagy, Ron Rivera, Darren Rizzi, Rex Ryan, Bobby Slowik, Arthur Smith, Steve Spagnuolo, Jeff Ulbrich, Mike Vrabel and Joe Whitt Jr. for the job.

But only Glenn received a second interview. And New York didn't need to think twice about talking to anyone else again.

Glenn would become the third Black head coach in the franchise’s history, joining Herm Edwards and Todd Bowles. He’s also the first Black coach to be hired to lead an NFL team during this year's hiring cycle.

The Jets also are going through a lengthy search for a general manager, and Washington assistant general manager Lance Newmark was at the team's facility Tuesday as well.

Newmark, one of 15 candidates to interview for the GM job, was the first to get a second meeting with the Jets — like Glenn — but hasn't agreed to a deal.

Glenn and the new GM will be tasked with trying to revamp a franchise that has the NFL’s longest active playoff drought at 14 seasons.

Glenn played eight seasons with New York and was selected as one of the cornerbacks on the franchise’s All-Time Four Decade team in 2003.

He later had stints with Houston, Dallas, Jacksonville and New Orleans and finished his career with 41 interceptions, including six returned for touchdowns, and made the Pro Bowl three times.

After his 15-year playing career, Glenn had a stint as the general manager for the Houston Stallions of the Lone Star Football League in 2012 before coming back to the Jets as a personnel scout later that year.

He served as Cleveland’s assistant defensive backs coach from 2014 to 2015 before being hired for the same position in New Orleans. After five seasons with the Saints, he was hired by the Lions as defensive coordinator in 2021.

Joe Namath, the quarterback who led the Jets to their only Super Bowl victory, in 1969, was pleased with the hiring of Glenn.

“I’m hoping all @nyjets fans are as thrilled as my family and I are that Aaron Glenn is our new Head Coach,” Namath wrote on X shortly after the news broke. “I wish the season would start next week!”

The Lions, who lost to Washington last Saturday in the NFC divisional round, now have lost both of their coordinators with Glenn joining the Jets and offensive guru Ben Johnson hired by the Bears.

Glenn would become the sixth first-time full-time head coach to be hired by the Jets since the end of the 2000 season. He joins Edwards, Eric Mangini, Rex Ryan, Bowles and Robert Saleh. All had defensive backgrounds, with the lone coaching hire by New York during that span with an offensive background being Adam Gase in 2019.

Jets owner Woody Johnson hired The 33rd Team, a football media, analytics and consulting group founded by former Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum, to assist them in November. They'll now turn their attention to bringing in a new front-office leader to replace Joe Douglas, who was fired by the Jets with the team en route to a disappointing 5-12 season. Saleh was fired after a 2-3 start and New York went 3-9 under interim coach Jeff Ulbrich, who was hired as Atlanta's defensive coordinator.

The major tasks for Glenn and the eventual new GM will be trying to build a roster that returns the Jets to the playoffs after a long absence and determining whether the franchise will have quarterback Aaron Rodgers back next season — if he still wants to play — and possibly beyond.

The 41-year-old four-time MVP, who’s the fifth player in NFL history to throw 500 touchdown passes in the regular season, has one year of nonguaranteed money left on his contract with the Jets.

New York also will have to make a decision on wide receiver Davante Adams, who’s scheduled to make $35.64 million in each of the next two years. The Jets also have several key players scheduled to be free agents, including linebacker Jamien Sherwood, cornerback D.J. Reed and tight end Tyler Conklin.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn watches during warmups before an NFL football divisional playoff game against the Washington Commanders, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Mike Mulholland)

Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn watches during warmups before an NFL football divisional playoff game against the Washington Commanders, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Mike Mulholland)