Iran announced plans Thursday to build another uranium enrichment site and upgrade an existing facility, shortly after the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog censured Tehran for the first time in 20 years over its failure to cooperate with ongoing oversight efforts.
Iranian officials said they will establish a third enrichment facility “in a secure location” and replace older centrifuges with more advanced models at an existing site in response to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s resolution this week, according to the Associated Press.
The agency censured Iran for its “many failures to uphold its obligations since 2019 to provide the Agency with full and timely cooperation regarding undeclared nuclear material and activities at multiple undeclared locations in Iran.” The resolution made clear that Tehran has repeatedly violated the terms of its Safeguards Agreement under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which requires Iran to declare all nuclear materials and allow U.N. inspectors to check facilities—including those used for military purposes.
Iran’s retaliatory moves came as nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran remain stalled, with a sixth round of negotiations set for Sunday. President Donald Trump said this week that he is “much less confident” about reaching a deal but insisted that Iran is “not going to have a nuclear weapon” regardless of whether it agrees to an agreement. Iran is demanding that tough American sanctions be lifted and that it be permitted to continue enriching uranium, the fuel for an atomic bomb.
House Republicans and Democrats have called on the Trump administration to reject any nuclear deal with Iran that permits uranium enrichment, while Trump has repeatedly warned that the United States or Israel could strike Iran’s nuclear facilities if diplomacy fails. “But it would be nicer to do it without warfare, without people dying, it’s so much nicer to do it,” Trump said this week.
A senior Western diplomat told the Associated Press that the U.N. watchdog’s resolution is a “serious step” but that Western nations are “not closing the door to diplomacy on this issue.”
The State Department on Wednesday said it has ordered some American personnel and their families to leave the Middle East amid rising tensions. Iran is threatening to attack American outposts in the region if diplomacy fails, and Israel is reportedly making preparations for a strike on Tehran’s nuclear sites.
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