Iran to Launch New Enrichment Site after IAEA Resolution
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran condemned a Western-backed IAEA resolution and announced plans to establish a new uranium enrichment facility in response, calling the move politically motivated and technically baseless.
The Foreign Ministry and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran in a statement denounced the resolution passed by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany at the IAEA Board of Governors.
The statement slammed the four countries for politicizing the agency and misusing its platform without legal or technical justification.
"Iran has always complied with its safeguards obligations," the statement said, adding that IAEA reports have never indicated any deviation or non-compliance in Iran’s nuclear activities.
Iran criticized the latest report from the IAEA director-general as “political and biased.”
Despite this, the four countries went beyond that by drafting a resolution that even contradicts the political report of the IAEA director-general, it said.
Unable to identify issues in current Iranian activities, the statement added, the countries resorted to raising allegations from over 25 years ago.
However, Iran noted that all such past issues were closed under the IAEA’s November 2015 resolution.
The Iranian statement condemned the silence of these countries regarding Israel’s nuclear arsenal and its refusal to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Furthermore, the statement condemned the US, the UK, and France for failing to fulfill their nuclear disarmament obligations under Article VI of the NPT and slammed Germany for hosting deadly and inhumane nuclear arms.
“These actions by the four countries have seriously undermined the credibility and integrity of the IAEA and further revealed the agency’s political character,” the statement said.
Iran warned that this political treatment of a country that has consistently fulfilled its commitments and cooperated extensively with the agency proves that dialogue yields the opposite effect.
“We thank the countries that voted against or abstained,” the statement added, while denouncing those that supported the resolution.
As previously announced, the Islamic Republic of Iran sees no option but to respond to this political resolution, it said.
Accordingly, Iran’s atomic chief has issued orders to establish a new enrichment center in a secure location.
Advanced IR-6 centrifuges will replace the older first-generation centrifuges at the Shahid Dr. Alimohammadi (Fordow) site.
Further measures are being planned and will be announced in due course.
