Iran wants to activate thousands of centrifuges for uranium enrichment

The government in Tehran has announced that it wants to put thousands of new centrifuges into operation for uranium enrichment. The installation should take place in the next four to six months, said the deputy director of the Iranian Atomic Energy Agency, Behrus Kamalwandi, according to a report by the Isna news agency.

“In this way, the Western parties that have sought to roll back Iran’s nuclear program will be confronted with a different reality: a program that is far more comprehensive and advanced in both quantity and quality,” Kamalwandi said, according to the report. “This certainly won’t please them.”

Iran is responding to formal criticism of Iran’s nuclear program by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). IAEA inspectors have for years demanded that Tehran provide conclusive explanations about traces that point to secret nuclear facilities and previous nuclear activities.

On Thursday, the IAEA Board of Governors, head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, issued a resolution ordering the government in Tehran to fulfill its “legal obligations” under the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This obliges signatory states such as Iran to report their nuclear activities to the IAEA and have them monitored by the organization. According to Western diplomats, if Tehran continues to fail to provide answers, Grossi’s report could serve as a basis for involving the UN Security Council.

Iran is currently enriching uranium to a purity of 60 percent; experts say more than 90 percent is needed for nuclear weapons. According to Iran’s government, the nuclear program is only used for civilian purposes. The then US President Donald Trump unilaterally terminated the Vienna nuclear pact, which was intended to restrict Iran’s program and in return relax sanctions, in 2018. Since then, the Islamic Republic has no longer strictly adhered to the requirements.

The USA, Great Britain, France and Germany reacted with concern to Iran’s nuclear plans. “We note with serious concern Iran’s announcement that it intends to respond to the resolution not with cooperation, but with a further expansion of its nuclear program in a manner that has no credible peaceful justification,” it said in a statement on The four states released a statement on Saturday by the US State Department.

“We expect Iran to resume the path of dialogue and cooperation with the agency,” the statement continued.

Western states fear that Iran is using enriched uranium to develop nuclear weapons, something Tehran has always denied.