Iran has rapidly installed extra uranium-enriching centrifuges at its Fordow site and begun setting up others, a UN nuclear watchdog report said in what diplomats described as limited retaliation to a resolution by the watchdog's board.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that diplomats said Iran was responding to last week's International Atomic Energy Agency board resolution against it by expanding its uranium-enrichment capacity at its two underground enrichment sites at Fordow and Natanz, but the escalation is not as big as many had feared.
Such resolutions taken by the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors anger Tehran, which typically responds by accelerating its nuclear activities.
Eighteen months earlier, Iran responded to a similar resolution by enriching uranium to up to 60% purity—close to weapons-grade—at a second site and announcing a significant expansion of its enrichment program.
“Iran has rapidly installed two more cascades, or clusters, of uranium-enriching centrifuges at its Fordow site and begun work on more while also planning others at its underground plant at Natanz,” the UN nuclear watchdog said in its report.
“On 9 and 10 June ... Iran informed the Agency that eight cascades each containing 174 IR-6 centrifuges would be installed over the next 3-4 weeks in Unit 1 of FFEP (Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant),” the confidential report sent to member states on Thursday said.
It added, “On 11 June 2024, the Agency verified at FFEP that Iran had completed the installation of IR-6 centrifuges in two cascades in Unit 1. Installation of IR-6 centrifuges in four additional cascades was ongoing,” referring of one of Iran's most advanced centrifuge models.
