Iran plans to install 6,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium, IAEA says

Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it plans to install more than 6,000 new centrifuges to enrich uranium, the United Nations nuclear watchdog said.

The report came as Iran prepared to hold talks with Britain, France and Germany in Geneva on Friday over its nuclear programme. Both sides agreed to continue diplomatic dialogue after the talks.

By also bringing more centrifuges already in place online, the confidential report outlined what Iran meant following a censure by the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors passed last week at the request of Britain, France, Germany and the United States.

Iran had previously agreed to a demand by the UN agency to cap its stock of high-enriched uranium up to only 60 percent purity, well below the weapons-grade enriched level of 90 percent needed for a bomb.

According to the IAEA, Iran also intends to install 18 extra cascades of IR-4 centrifuges at that Natanz plant, each with 166 machines, the greater capacity meaning that it can enrich uranium at a faster pace, potentially increasing the risk of nuclear proliferation.

Tehran has repeatedly denied seeking nuclear weapons.

The talks in Geneva took place two months before US President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

During his first term, Trump pursued a policy of “maximum pressure” against Tehran, which eventually resulted in Washington’s unilateral decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with world powers and impose harsh sanctions.

Iran stepped up its nuclear enrichment in response.

Majid Takht-Ravanchi, a deputy to Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, represented Iran at the meeting.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs who was also at the meeting, said the two sides agreed to continue diplomatic dialogue in the near future. The European countries also confirmed continuation of political dialogue using almost identical language in their statements.

“We are firmly committed to pursue the interests of our people, and our preference is the path of dialogue and engagement,” Gharibabadi wrote on the social media platform X, saying the meetings particularly focused on Iran’s nuclear programme and lifting of sanctions.

On Thursday, the Iranian delegation met with Enrique Mora, the deputy secretary-general of the European Union’s foreign affairs arm.

Mora said on X that they held a “frank exchange … on Iran’s military support to Russia that has to stop, the nuclear issue that needs a diplomatic solution, regional tensions (important to avoid further escalation from all sides) and human rights”.

Iran’s Gharibabadi said the 27-nation bloc “should abandon its self-centred and irresponsible behaviour” on a range of issues including the Ukraine war and the Iranian nuclear issue.

The EU’s “complicit behaviour towards the ongoing genocide in Gaza” leaves it without moral authority to “preach” on human rights, Gharibabadi said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that his country would do “everything” to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon after Araghchi warned Tehran could end its ban on developing one if Western sanctions are reimposed.