The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) board of governors yesterday formally found that Iran is not complying with its nuclear obligations, while US President Donald Trump earlier said that US personnel were being moved from the potentially “dangerous” Middle East.
Following the IAEA announcement, Iran said that it would establish a new enrichment facility “in a secure location” and that “other measures are also being planned.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has no choice but to respond to this political resolution,” the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said in a joint statement.
Photo: AFP
Trump previously warned that Israel or the US could carry out airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations failed.
Some US personnel and their families have begun leaving the region over the tensions, which come ahead of a new round of US-Iran talks on Sunday in Oman.
In Israel, the US embassy ordered American government employees and their families to remain in the Tel Aviv area over security concerns.
Nineteen countries on the IAEA’s board, which represents its member nations, voted for the resolution, according to diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the outcome of the closed-doors vote.
Russia, China and Burkina Faso opposed it, 11 abstained and two did not vote.
In the draft resolution, the board of governors renewed a call on Iran to provide answers “without delay” in a long-running investigation into uranium traces found at several locations that Tehran has failed to declare as nuclear sites.
Western officials suspect that the uranium traces could provide further evidence that Iran had a secret nuclear weapons program until 2003.
The resolution was put forward by France, the UK, Germany and the US.
Speaking to Iranian state television after the vote, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said that his agency immediately informed the IAEA of “specific and effective” actions Tehran would take.
“One is the launch of a third secure site” for enrichment, Kamalvandi said.
He did not elaborate on the location.
The other step would be replacing old centrifuges for advanced ones at Fordow.
“The implication of this is that our production of enriched materials will significantly increase,” Kamalvandi said.
“Iran’s 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 ... constitutes noncompliance with its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement,” the draft IAEA resolution says.
Under those obligations, which are part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran is bound to declare all nuclear material and activities and allow IAEA inspectors to verify that none of it is being diverted from peaceful uses.
The draft resolution made a direct reference to the US-Iran talks, stressing its “support for a diplomatic solution to the issue.”
Trump on Wednesday reiterated that he would not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
Iran on Wednesday said that it would target US military bases in the region if conflict breaks out.
A US official had earlier said that staff levels at the embassy in Iraq were being reduced over security concerns, while there were reports that personnel were also being moved from Kuwait and Bahrain.
“Well they are being moved out because it could be a dangerous place,” Trump told reporters in Washington when asked about the reports of personnel being moved. “We’ve given notice to move out and we’ll see what happens.”
“They can’t have a nuclear weapon, very simple,” he added. “We’re not going to allow that.”
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