Daily Times

Iran said Friday it would launch a series of “new and advanced” centrifuges in response to a resolution adopted by the UN nuclear watchdog that censures Tehran for what the agency called lack of cooperation.

The censure motion brought by Britain, France, Germany, and the United States at the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) follows a similar one in June.

The resolution — which China, Russia and Burkina Faso voted against — was carried with 19 votes in favour, 12 abstentions and Venezuela not participating, two diplomats told AFP.

“The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran issued an order to take effective measures, including launching a significant series of new and advanced centrifuges of various types,” a joint statement by the organisation and Iran’s foreign ministry said.

Centrifuges are the machines that enrich uranium transformed into gas by rotating it at very high speed, increasing the proportion of fissile isotope material (U-235). “At the same time, technical and safeguards cooperation with the IAEA will continue, as in the past” and within the framework of agreements made by Iran, the joint Iranian statement added.

Iran’s retaliatory measures “are reversible if this (Western) hostile action is withdrawn or negotiations are opened,” Tehran-based political analyst Hadi Mohammadi told AFP. The resolution comes with tensions running high over Iran’s atomic programme, with critics fearing that Tehran is attempting to develop a nuclear weapon — a claim the Islamic republic has repeatedly denied.