Iran has said it will activate “new and advanced” centrifuges in response to a resolution adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board censuring it for lack of cooperation.
The motion was put forward by France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States at the 35-nation board of the United Nations nuclear watchdog and follows a similar one in June, criticised then by Iran as “hasty and unwise”.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the passing of the resolution and said on Friday that Iran’s nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami had issued orders to launch new and advanced centrifuges, powerful machines that spin rapidly to enrich uranium.
The joint statement added that “technical and safeguards cooperation with the IAEA will continue, as in the past” and within the framework of agreements made by Iran.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi this week condemned efforts by European countries to pass their fourth resolution since 2020, saying it would “complicate” nuclear talks.
The resolution underscored IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi’s “deep concern” over the presence of “undeclared nuclear material” at several “undeclared locations” in the country.
It also pointed to Grossi’s findings “that nuclear material used in Iran was not declared as required” under the country’s own safeguard agreement outlined in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
But Grossi indicated during his trip to Tehran last week that he was making some headway with the inspections.
Iran had agreed to an IAEA demand to cap its stock of high-enriched uranium up to only 60 percent purity, well below the weapons-grade enriched level of 90 percent needed for a bomb.
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