The United States will resume uranium enrichment operations domestically, working in part with partners in France, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Tuesday at a conference in Paris.
Last month, French nuclear fuels group Orano was awarded $900 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to help build a uranium enrichment facility in Tennessee.
Iran announced the temporary closure of the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday for live fire drills in a rare show of force as its negotiators held another round of indirect talks with the United States over the Islamic Republic's disputed nuclear program.
It was the first time Iran had announced the closure of the key international waterway, through which 20% of the world's oil passes, since the U.S. began threatening Iran and rushing military assets to the region. It was not immediately clear if the strait had been closed, but such a rare and perhaps unprecedented move could further escalate tensions that threaten to ignite another war in the Middle East.
As the talks began, Iran's state media announced that Iranian forces had fired live missiles toward the strait and would close it for several hours for "safety and maritime concerns."
