Iran to Expand Nuclear Centrifuges Following Dispute with UN Watchdog

The move is in line with Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, it said, adding that technical cooperation with the IAEA will continue.

Photo by Meghdad Madadi via Tasnim News Agency

Iran has announced plans to expand its nuclear program by increasing the number of centrifuges, following a censure from the UN nuclear watchdog. This move escalates tensions with the West, coming just days after Iran had expressed a readiness to ease such tensions, The Caspian Post reports citing Bloomberg.

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami, ordered a “significant collection” of “new and advanced” centrifuges, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. That was because of a rebuke from the International Atomic Energy Agency over Tehran’s failure to resolve a probe into uranium particles found at undeclared locations, the statement said.

The move is in line with Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, it said, adding that technical cooperation with the IAEA will continue.

The IAEA’s board of governors passed a resolution late on Thursday censuring Iran over the years-long investigation. It came days after the Islamic Republic suggested it was ready to resolve the standoff over its atomic work by agreeing to stop enriching uranium to 60% levels, close to the level required for nuclear weapons.

Iran “remains ready for constructive engagement with relevant parties based on international legal principles and standards,” the Foreign Ministry said.

The IAEA resolution calls on the body’s inspectors to publish a comprehensive report about Iran’s nuclear activities next year.

Iran’s earlier pledge to cease creating more highly enriched nuclear fuel was the first time the nation had made such a proposal, according to the IAEA. 

“They are taking a different direction,” Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said Wednesday. “This is the first time that they are saying, ‘Okay, we stop.’”

The move was seen as a way of appeasing incoming US President Donald Trump, some of whose advisors have said his administration will increase sanctions on Iran. Such a move could worsen the Islamic Republic’s already struggling economy.