Iran set to launch ‘advanced centrifuges’ after IAEA censure for noncooperation
WSJ report shows Tehran’s October 1 missile attack on Israel forced commercial flights to change course; IRGC hails ICC arrest warrants for PM, Gallant
Iran on Friday said it will launch a series of “new and advanced” centrifuges for uranium enrichment in response to a resolution adopted by the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA. The resolution, adopted Thursday, censured Tehran for failure to cooperate with the agency and demanded answers in a long-running investigation into uranium particles found at two locations that Tehran has failed to declare as nuclear sites.
“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 issued by the Iranian organization and its foreign ministry said.
It added, however, that “technical and safeguards cooperation with the IAEA will continue, as in the past” and within the framework of agreements made by Iran.
Iran’s retaliatory measures “are reversible if this hostile action is withdrawn or negotiations are opened,” Tehran-based political analyst Hadi Mohammadi told AFP.
The IAEA board’s condemnation of Iran on Thursday was its second in just five months.
Nineteen members of the IAEA board voted for the resolution, while Russia, China and Burkina Faso opposed it, 12 abstained and one did not vote, according to diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the outcome of the closed-door vote.
The resolution came on the heels of a confidential report earlier this week in which the IAEA said Iran has defied international demands to rein in its nuclear program and has increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.
That report, seen by The AP on Tuesday, said that as of October 26, Iran had accumulated 182.3 kilograms (401.9 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60 percent, an increase of 17.6 kilograms (38.8 pounds) since the last IAEA report in August. Uranium enriched at 60% purity is just a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
The resolution approved on Thursday requires the IAEA to now produce a “comprehensive and updated assessment” of Iran’s nuclear activities, which could eventually trigger a referral to the UN Security Council to consider more sanctions on Tehran.
Also on Friday, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps described the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant as fatal for Israel.
“This means the end and political death of the Zionist regime, a regime that today lives in absolute political isolation in the world and its officials can no longer travel to other countries,” IRGC chief General Hossein Salami said in the speech aired on state TV. The IRGC is a US-designated terrorist group.
In the first official reaction by Iran, Salami called the ICC warrant “a welcome move” and a “great victory for the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements,” in reference to terror organizations supported by Tehran.
Iran’s Oct. 1 missile attack forced commercial flights to change course
In separate Iran news, The Wall Street Journal reported that during Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel on October 1, dozens of aircraft were flying along a similar path as the missiles ascended, with some pilots and passengers seeing the projectiles as they streaked through the sky, mostly over Iran and Iraq.
Though ballistic missiles fly high above commercial airline paths, they present a danger during their ascent and descent.
Iran apparently gave no warning for flights to avoid the area as it launched its attack. With crews alarmed, many flights quickly changed their course due to the danger, the report said, using graphics to underline the risk that was posed to civilian aviation.
The report noted that Iranian strikes and Israeli counterstrikes continue to be on the table, with no clear solution to protect civilian flights.
Iran’s October 1 attack consisted of a massive salvo of some 200 ballistic missiles fired at Israel, sending most of the population rushing to bomb shelters and safe rooms. Tehran’s attack caused relatively minor damage to military bases and some residential areas, and killed a Palestinian man in the West Bank.
The Israeli military acknowledged that some of its airbases were hit, but stressed that no harm was caused to the functioning of the Israeli Air Force. The missile impacts damaged office buildings and other maintenance areas in the bases, according to the military.
