Iran Responds to IAEA Resolution by Activating Advanced Centrifuges & Scaling Up Uranium Enrichment

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Mohammad Eslami, has said that his country has started injecting uranium gas into its “several thousand advanced centrifuges” in response to the recent resolution passed by the UN nuclear watchdog.

“At that very moment and at the time of the vote on the resolution, we began the operation of several thousand advanced centrifuges as part of the implementation of our nuclear industry development program and have activated them,” Eslami said on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting on November 27, according to the ISNA news agency.

Eslami added that Iran had previously warned the European powers that, should the resolution be passed, the country would “certainly take immediate reciprocal action.”

The resolution, proposed by the UK, France, Germany, and the US, and adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors on November 21, criticized Iran for “obstructing” the IAEA’s work.

The IAEA urged Iran to “halt and reverse its nuclear escalation, refrain from making threats to produce nuclear weapons,” and “return to the limits imposed by the JCPOA [the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iranian nuclear deal], particularly those regarding enrichment.”

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf supported his country’s decision to activate advanced centrifuges and criticized the “unrealistic, political, and destructive” actions of the US and the E3 – Germany, France, and the UK – which led to the adoption of what he called an “unjustified and non-consensus resolution” against Iran’s nuclear program at the IAEA.

Referring to the resolution, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Iran “neutralized the US plot to bring Iran into submission” by enriching uranium at this level by itself “to Americans’ surprise.”

Iran has violated its international obligations, stockpiling 182.3 kg of uranium enriched to 60%, easily convertible to the 90% needed for weapons. This move, along with Iran’s lack of cooperation with the IAEA, has prompted suspicion from the global community that Tehran could be moving toward the production of a nuclear bomb.

Commenting on the November 29 meeting in Geneva to discuss Iran’s nuclear program with the E3 – France, Germany, and the UK – Iranian Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif said that any possible future nuclear agreement “should for certain be based on the JCPOA.”

He added that at the meeting, Iranian Deputy Foreign Ministers Majid Takht-Ravanchi and Kazem Gharibabadi would represent Iran’s outlook and demands and hold the E3 “responsible” for “not complying” with the JCPOA.

Before the resolution’s adoption, Iranian authorities at various levels had warned of an “immediate” and proportionate response. On November 20, the Iranian Foreign Ministry reiterated this warning in a statement, noting that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi conveyed similar messages during phone calls with counterparts from IAEA Board of Governors member states.

IAEA Chief Grossi visited Tehran on November 13 for talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to enhance Iran’s cooperation with the UN watchdog. During the visit, Tehran provisionally agreed to cap its enriched uranium stockpile at 60%.

The IAEA has repeatedly expressed concerns over Iran’s growing stockpile of uranium enriched to 20% and 60%, as well as its lack of transparency regarding nuclear activities. In 2022, the IAEA Board of Governors twice censured Iran for insufficient cooperation with the agency’s investigations. In response, Tehran removed monitoring equipment, including cameras, from several nuclear sites in June of that year.