The West still has an opportunity to pursue engagement and abandon pressure, but Tehran is ready to confront any challenges, spokesperson and deputy head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, announced on Saturday.
Addressing Western nations, Behrouz Kamalvandi wrote in a Tehran newspaper, “There is still time for engagement and for setting aside pressure and threats. While Iran has prepared itself to counter threats, it prefers dialogue over confrontation.”
Iranian officials have condemned a censure resolution adopted during the November 21 quarterly meeting of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors. While they claim Iran is ready to negotiate over its nuclear commitments, their calls for dialogue come against the backdrop of years of failed diplomatic efforts by the IAEA and Western powers to address concerns over Tehran’s reduced cooperation with the UN watchdog.
The IAEA Board of Governors approved a resolution proposed by four Western powers condemning the expansion of Iran’s nuclear activities and Tehran’s lack of necessary cooperation with the agency. The resolution passed with a majority vote.
This marked the second resolution adopted against the Islamic Republic by the Board of Governors in the past six months.
On Friday, Kamalvandi responded to the IAEA resolution by announcing a “significant increase” in uranium enrichment levels.
Speaking to state media, he said this step was part of Iran’s “compensatory measures in response to the new Board of Governors resolution” and noted that the process had “already begun immediately.”
The spokesperson for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization stated that the Islamic Republic had informed the IAEA it would respond "immediately": "Before the agency officials left the Secretariat, we informed them, and today we also sent a DIQ (Design Information Questionnaire). This process is ongoing."
Kamalvandi provided details of Iran’s retaliatory measures, saying: "The enrichment sector is the most impacted area, and we are significantly increasing our enrichment capacity."
He added: "We are utilizing advanced centrifuges, accelerating research and development on each of them, expanding infrastructure, and implementing additional measures to enhance security."
Earlier, Ali Larijani, a top advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei tweeted that if the Trump administration wants Iran to refrain from making a bomb, "They must accept Iran's conditions and grant necessary concessions, including #compensating_Iran for damages and similar measures, to reach a new agreement, rather than issuing unilateral demands."
The escalation of Iran’s nuclear activities comes as the IAEA Board of Governors stated in its resolution that the Islamic Republic has still not cooperated with the agency “clearly and comprehensively” and has failed to take “the urgent and necessary actions outlined in the June 2024 resolution of the Board.”
The Board expressed “deep concern” over the situation, adding: “This lack of cooperation impacts the agency’s ability to ensure and verify the non-diversion of Iran’s nuclear materials toward nuclear weapons or other explosive devices.”
The resolution was adopted shortly after the Islamic Republic formally invited Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to visit Iran on November 11.
Regarding topics raised during Grossi’s visit, Kamalvandi said, "Mr. Grossi proposed during his trip to Iran that we temporarily refrain from increasing our 60% uranium stockpile, although not in a way that stops enrichment at various levels, including 60%."
He added: "We agreed to this with certain conditions, but we made it clear this would only apply if the resolution was not adopted."
Iran has amassed enough uranium enriched at 60% that it can quickly purify to 90% and produce four nuclear warheads, the IAEA and Western countries have said.
The IAEA resolution, combined with likely revival of the so-called maximum pressure campaign of sanctions on Iran from Trump's first term may set US-led Western countries on a collision course with Tehran over the nuclear dossier.
