Non-proliferation experts are emphasizing that the installation by Iran of advanced IR-2m centrifuges in the Natanz enrichment facility would be a “game-changer.” Tehran recently informed the International Atomic Energy Agency in a letter that it intends to take such a step. Whereas the centrifuge units currently installed in Natanz can hold 170 centrifuges each, the IR-2m units can hold over 3,000 centrifuges, dramatically increasing the rate at which Iran could enrich nuclear material. Fred Kagan, the Director of the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project, describes IR-2m installation as “undermin[ing] one of the core assumptions of current U.S. policy,” specifically that U.S. intelligence would be able to detect Iran sneaking across the finish line and developing weapons-grade nuclear material.

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