Iran to launch ‘advanced centrifuges’ in response to IAEA censure
The Islamic Republic of Iran announced on 22 November plans to activate a “series of new and advanced centrifuges” in response to a resolution adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) a day earlier.
“After the resolution, we immediately started our remedial measures. We will significantly increase enrichment capacity,” Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), said in a televised interview on Friday.
“Our compensatory actions began immediately after this resolution,” Kamalvandi added, stressing that Iran’s “infrastructure will be strengthened, and security measures will be improved through other actions.”
Kamalvandi said the UN nuclear watchdog was informed of the measures Tehran would take in response to the US-backed resolution before IAEA officials had left the Board of Governors’ meeting.
A joint statement from the AEOI and the Iranian Foreign Ministry issued on Friday night confirms that “technical and safeguards cooperation with the IAEA will continue, as in the past” and within the framework of agreements made by Iran.”
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The Islamic Republic recently agreed to an IAEA demand to cap its stock of high-enriched uranium up to only 60 percent purity, well below weapons-grade 90 percent purity.
On Thursday, the IAEA Board of Governors voted 19 to three, with 12 abstentions, to approve a resolution put forth by the US, France, Germany, and the UK ordering Iran to “urgently improve cooperation” with the agency and requesting a “comprehensive” report into Iran’s nuclear activities.
Western media reports say the US-led alliance “hopes” the report, due by spring 2025, “will pressure Iran into negotiations on fresh restrictions on its nuclear activities.”
Thursday’s session marked the least number of votes in the Board of Governor resolutions against Iran in the past 21 years. China, Russia, and Burkina Faso voted against the text, diplomats in the meeting said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi earlier this week condemned efforts by the US-led alliance to pass their fourth resolution since 2020, saying it would “complicate” nuclear talks.
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