イラン、「高性能」遠心分離機稼働へ ＩＡＥＡ非難決議に反発

【テヘランＡＦＰ＝時事】イランは２２日、国際原子力機関（ＩＡＥＡ）が同国を「協力不足」と非難する前日の決議採択に反発し、最新の高性能遠心分離機を稼働させると発表した。（写真はイラン国旗）
　「イラン原子力庁（ＡＥＯＩ）トップが、複数種の高性能な最新型遠心分離機の大量稼働を含む、効果的な措置をとるよう指示した」という。
　イランを非難する決議案は英仏独米の４か国が、３５か国から成るＩＡＥＡの理事会に提出。外交官２人がＡＦＰに語ったところによると、中国、ロシア、ブルキナファソが反対したが、賛成多数で可決された。
　ＡＦＰが確認した非公開の決議によると、イランが「法的義務を果たすために行動することが不可欠かつ喫緊」だとしており、また未申告の施設２か所で検出された核物質について「技術的に信頼できる説明」をイランに求めている。
　さらに西側諸国はＩＡＥＡに対し、イランの核開発計画について「包括的な報告書」の作成を要請している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/11/22-18:35）

Iran said Friday it would launch a series of new and advanced centrifuges in response to a resolution adopted by the UN nuclear watchdog that censures Tehran for what the agency called lack of cooperation.
The censure motion brought by Britain, France, Germany, and the United States at the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) follows a similar one in June.
The resolution -- which China, Russia and Burkina Faso voted against -- was carried with 19 votes in favour, 12 abstentions and Venezuela not participating, two diplomats told AFP.
The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran issued an order to take effective measures, including launching a significant series of new and advanced centrifuges of various types, a joint statement by the organisation and Iran's foreign ministry said.
Centrifuges are the machines that enrich uranium transformed into gas by rotating it at very high speed, increasing the proportion of fissile isotope material (U-235).
At the same time, technical and safeguards cooperation with the IAEA will continue, as in the past and within the framework of agreements made by Iran, the joint Iranian statement added.
Iran's retaliatory measures are reversible if this (Western) hostile action is withdrawn or negotiations are opened, Tehran-based political analyst Hadi Mohammadi told AFP.
- 'Legal obligations' -
The resolution comes with tensions running high over Iran's atomic programme, with critics fearing that Tehran is attempting to develop a nuclear weapon -- a claim the Islamic republic has repeatedly denied.
The confidential resolution seen by AFP says it is essential and urgent for Iran to act to fulfil its legal obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) ratified in 1970.
The NPT requires signatory states to declare and place their nuclear materials under the control of the IAEA.
The text also calls on Tehran to provide technically credible explanations for the presence of uranium particles found at two undeclared locations in Iran.
In addition, Western powers are asking for a comprehensive report to be issued by the IAEA on Iran's nuclear efforts at the latest by spring 2025.
The resolution comes just as the IAEA's head Rafael Grossi returned from a trip to Tehran last week, where he appeared to have made headway.
During the visit, Iran agreed to an IAEA demand to cap its sensitive stock of near weapons-grade uranium enriched up to 60 percent purity.
- 'Cycle of provocation' -

Iran did not start the cycle of provocation -- the Western side could, without passing a resolution ? create the atmosphere for negotiations if it really was after talks, expert Hadi Mohammadi said.
In 2015, Iran and world powers reached an agreement that involved the easing of international sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme to guarantee that Tehran could not develop a nuclear weapon -- something it has always denied seeking to do.
But the United States unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018 under then-president Donald Trump and reimposed biting economic sanctions, which prompted Iran to begin rolling back on its own commitments.
On Thursday, Iran's deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs Kazem Gharibabadi warned of Iran's potential next step.
Iran had announced in an official letter to European countries that it would withdraw from the NPT if the snapback mechanism was activated, and the Security Council sanctions were reinstated, Gharibabadi said in a late-night interview with state TV.
The 2015 deal contains a snapback mechanism that can be triggered in case of significant non-performance of its commitments by Iran.
This would allow the United Nations Security Council to reimpose all the sanctions it had imposed between 2006 and 2015 over Tehran's nuclear activities.
Tehran has since 2021 significantly decreased its cooperation with the agency by deactivating surveillance devices monitoring the nuclear programme and barring UN inspectors.
At the same time, it has ramped up its nuclear activities, including by increasing its stockpiles of enriched uranium and the level of enrichment to 60 percent.
That level is close, according to the IAEA, to the 90 percent plus threshold required for a nuclear warhead and substantially higher than the 3.67 percent limit it agreed to in 2015.