Tehran – Iran said on Friday it will launch a series of “new and advanced” centrifuges in response to a resolution adopted by the United Nations nuclear watchdog that censures Tehran for what the agency called a lack of cooperation. The censure motion brought by Britain, France, Germany, and the United States at the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) followed a similar one in June.
It comes as tensions rise over Iran’s atomic programwith critics fearing that Tehran is trying to develop nuclear weapons – a claim the Islamic Republic has repeatedly denied.
Iran says it “will increase” its uranium enrichment capacity
The resolution – voted for by China, Russia and Burkina Faso – was carried with 19 votes in favor, 12 abstentions and Venezuela abstained, two diplomats told AFP.
“The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran issued an order to take effective measures, including launching a series of new and advanced centrifuges of various types,” said a joint statement from the organization and Iran’s foreign ministry.
Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP
Centrifuges are machines that increase the amount of uranium that is converted into gas by spinning at very high speeds, increasing the proportion of fissile isotope material (U-235).
“At the same time, technical cooperation and safeguards with the IAEA will continue, as in the past” and within the framework of the agreement made by Iran, the Iranian joint statement added.
Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for Iran’s atomic energy organization, said on Friday that the new measures were mostly related to uranium enrichment.
“We will increase our enrichment capacity by using different types of advanced machinery,” he told state TV.
Iran’s retaliatory measures “could be reversed if this (Western) hostile act is withdrawn or negotiations are opened,” Tehran-based political analyst Hadi Mohammadi told AFP.
The IAEA demanded a “credible explanation” from Iran
The secret resolution seen by AFP said it was “important and essential” for Iran to “act to fulfill its legal obligations” under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) ratified in 1970.
The text also asked Tehran to provide a “technically credible explanation” for the presence of uranium particles found in two undeclared locations in Iran.
In addition, Western powers have called for a “comprehensive report” to be issued by the IAEA on Iran’s “latest” nuclear efforts by the spring of 2025.
-/Atomic Energy Organization of Iran/AFP/Getty
The resolution came after IAEA chief Rafael Grossi returned from a trip to Tehran last week, where he appeared to be making progress. During the visit, Iran agreed to the IAEA’s request for a shutdown A sensitive stockpile near weapons-grade uranium enriched up to 60% purity.
“Iran did not start the cycle of provocations – the Western side can, without giving a resolution … create an atmosphere for negotiations if it is really after negotiations,” said analyst Mohammadi.
The 2015 nuclear deal and how we got here
In 2015, Iran and world powers reached an agreement that saw the easing of international sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. But the United States unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018 under president Donald Trump and imposed harsh economic sanctions, prompting Iran to begin reneging on its own commitments.
President Biden is trying to get his life back on track of the deal during his first two years in office but to no avail.
Without providing specific evidence for the claim, the chairman of the US House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Turner, claimed that August interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that Iran could declare itself a nuclear weapons state “by the end of the year,” blamed the Biden administration for what would mark a major escalation the US has been trying to avoid for years.
Iran “may declare itself a nuclear weapons state by the end of this year, with reports — news reports have come out, saying that’s a possibility,” Turner told Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan.
Pressed by Brennan about whether US intelligence believes Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has decided, after years of insisting his country will not seek to develop nuclear weapons, to change that policy, Turner replied: “No.”
On Thursday, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs Kazem Gharibabadi warned of Iran’s potential next move.
“Iran has announced in an official letter to European countries that it will withdraw from the NPT if the snapback mechanism is activated, and Security Council sanctions are reinstated,” Gharibabadi said in an evening interview with state TV.
The 2015 deal contained a “snapback” mechanism that could be triggered in the event of “significant non-performance” of commitments by Iran.
This would allow many sanctions to be reimposed.
Tehran has since 2021 reduced its cooperation with the agency by shutting down the surveillance apparatus that monitors its nuclear program and banning UN inspectors.
At the same time, it has ramped up its nuclear activities, including by increasing stockpiles of enriched uranium and the level of enrichment to 60%.
That level is close, according to the IAEA, to the 90%-plus threshold required for nuclear warheads and higher than the 3.67% limit agreed in 2015.
