The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) on Sunday asserted that the country is on the verge of designing more modern, 20% enriched nuclear fuel, sparking alarmist — and inaccurate — reporting in Western media.

Why it matters: When Iran struck its nuclear agreement with the United States and other world powers in 2015, it was in possession of 196 kilograms of 20% enriched uranium and some 10,000 kilograms of low-enriched uranium. Under the pact, Iran agreed to forgo its production and stockpiling of 20% enriched uranium for 15 years. It also consented to reducing its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 97%, capping it at 300 kilograms.

In an interview with the Iranian state broadcaster, AEOI chief Ali Akbar Salehi said that “preliminary activities for designing modern 20% [enriched uranium] fuel have begun.” He added that the “modern fuel” will increase efficiency at the US-supplied Tehran Research Reactor. The aging facility runs on 20% enriched nuclear fuel and is said to produce medical isotopes used in the treatment of up to 800,000 Iranians.

Some media outlets promptly mischaracterized the claimed Iranian advance, with the Associated Press notably describing it as “a modern process for 20-percent uranium enrichment for its 50-year-old research reactor … signaling new danger for the nuclear deal.” That reporting appears to confuse uranium enrichment with nuclear fuel fabrication — the second of which is allowed under the nuclear deal.