Iran continues to increase its nuclear capabilities, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Thursday (June 13). The statement comes a week after the agency’s board of governors adopted a resolution criticizing Tehran’s lack of cooperation.
The IAEA informed its members on Thursday that Tehran had told it it was installing more enrichment cascades at the Natanz and Fordow nuclear facilities, according to a statement sent to Agence France-Presse. A diplomatic source judged this development “moderate”.
“Iran must cooperate with the IAEA without delay”called the United States on Thursday, the State Department warning in a press release that Washington “will respond” any escalation of the nuclear program.
Read the analysis: Article reserved for our subscribers The inexorable advance of the Iranian nuclear program embarrasses the West
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A symbolic motion
The motion presented on Monday June 3 by the United Kingdom, France and Germany, but opposed by China and Russia, during the meeting of the IAEA Council, which includes 35 countries, was the first of this type since November 2022.
The resolution, which Tehran called “hasty and reckless”came amid a standoff over Iran’s escalating nuclear activities and amid concerns among Western powers that Tehran is seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, which Iran denies.
Although symbolic in nature at this stage, the motion of no confidence aims to increase diplomatic pressure on Iran, with the possibility of referring the issue to the United Nations Security Council.
Similar resolutions in the past have prompted Tehran to retaliate by removing surveillance cameras and other equipment from its nuclear facilities and stepping up its uranium enrichment activities.
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A level of enrichment close to military quality
According to the IAEA, Iran is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium to the high level of 60% – very close to weapons-grade – while continuing to accumulate large stockpiles of it. ‘uranium.
The IAEA said Tehran had significantly accelerated its nuclear program and now had enough material to make several atomic bombs.
The Islamic Republic has gradually broken with the commitments it made under the nuclear deal concluded with world powers in 2015. This historic agreement allowed Iran to escape Western sanctions in exchange for limiting of its atomic program, but it collapsed after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States under the presidency of Donald Trump in 2018.
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