Iran to launch new enrichment center at 'a secure location'

TABNAK, Jun. 12 - The IAEA resolution comes as Iran and the U.S. have been negotiating since April to reach a new agreement over Iran’s nuclear program.

News ID: 6516

Date: 12 June 2025 - 13:19

Iran has strongly condemned a newly adopted resolution by the International Atomic Energy Agency (I.A.E.A.) Board of Governors, calling it a politically motivated move orchestrated by the United States and three European powers.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has no choice but to respond to this political resolution,” read a joint statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (A.E.O.I.).

It added that the head of the Atomic Energy Organization has issued orders to establish a new uranium enrichment facility in a secure location and to replace first-generation centrifuges at the Fordow enrichment site with advanced IR-6 machines.

The resolution, backed by the U.S., France, Britain, and Germany, was adopted by the I.A.E.A. Board of Governors on Thursday. It is based on a recent I.A.E.A. report, which accused Iran of failing to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog over alleged “undeclared nuclear activities.”

It accuses Iran of failing to meet its Safeguards obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (N.P.T.), the first time in two decades that the U.N. nuclear agency has formally found Iran in non-compliance.

The motion could pave the way for the reimposition of U.N. sanctions—lifted under a 2015 nuclear accord known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The joint statement by the Foreign Ministry and the A.E.O.I. rejected the resolution as a “recycled political tool” lacking a technical or legal basis. “Iran has always adhered to its Safeguards commitments,” it said, noting that no I.A.E.A. report has ever confirmed diversion of nuclear material or activities by Iran.

The statement also criticized the I.A.E.A.’s latest report as “entirely political and biased,” arguing that the resolution’s content even contradicts the agency’s own findings. It said the sponsors have revived decades-old allegations—some dating back over 25 years—that were previously declared closed under the I.A.E.A.’s November 2015 resolution, which confirmed the agency’s role in verifying and monitoring Iran’s nuclear commitments under the JCPOA, in line with U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231.

“These actions by the four countries take place while they remain silent regarding the Zionist regime’s exclusion from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (N.P.T.) and its development of weapons of mass destruction programs, including nuclear weapons,” the statement said. “They have also failed to take any action in response to this regime’s threats to attack the peaceful nuclear facilities of N.P.T. member states,” it added.

The statement further said that the resolution seriously undermines the credibility and integrity of the I.A.E.A., exposing the political nature of this international body, IRNA reported.

The resolution comes as Iran and the U.S. have been negotiating since April to reach a new agreement over Iran’s nuclear program to replace the JCPOA, which was derailed following the U.S. withdrawal in 2018.