On Friday (November 22) local time, Iran announced that it will increase the number of centrifuges used for uranium enrichment, in response to a new resolution by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to pressure Iran.
The IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution on Thursday condemning Iran's lack of cooperation, proposed by the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany, which involves issues such as the discovery of trace amounts of uranium in undeclared locations in Iran in 2019 and 2020. The resolution requires Iran to urgently improve its cooperation with the IAEA and to submit a "comprehensive" report.
The IAEA Council has 35 member states, with 19 countries voting in favor of the resolution.
The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded on Friday, stating that the resolution is "unreasonable" and that the Iranian government has consistently placed continuing and promoting cooperation with the IAEA on the agenda in order to resolve the issue.
Iran has stated that it will take effective measures in response, including investing a large number of advanced new centrifuges. Iran also stated that its cooperation with the IAEA will continue as usual.
Earlier this week, Iran had agreed to stop producing near weapon grade enriched uranium and took preliminary measures to limit production.
Some people believe that Iran's move is an olive branch extended to the incoming Trump administration. Previously, there were media reports that after Trump returns to the White House in January next year, he will continue the maximum pressure policy he implemented on Iran during his first term.
Weapon grade enriched uranium refers to enriched uranium with an abundance of 60%, which can quickly increase to over 90% of the required abundance for manufacturing nuclear weapons, and is therefore considered close to weapon grade high enriched uranium.
Although Iran made concessions beforehand, there were warnings at the time that if the IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution condemning Iran, the country would continue to produce highly enriched uranium.
Before the vote of the IAEA Board of Governors, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi called on the Board to adopt a "cautious, cooperative, and restrained" attitude. Grossi warned that putting too much pressure on Iran at the wrong time could backfire and even lead to the country's withdrawal from the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty.
According to the quarterly report submitted by the IAEA this week, Iran currently possesses 182.3 kilograms of uranium with an abundance of 60%, an increase of 17.6 kilograms from previous reports. If further concentrated, theoretically a nuclear weapon could be produced.