Iran suspended all cooperation with the IAEA after the war with Israel. File
| Photo Credit: AP

An Iranian security official in protective clothing walks through part of the Uranium Conversion Facility.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu during a joint press briefing at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, on February 16, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Israel and the United States are both determined to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its “aggression” in West Asia, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday (February 16, 2025) following a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Speaking after a meeting with Mr. Rubio in Jerusalem, Mr. Netanyahu said they had held a “very productive discussion” on a number of issues, “none more important than Iran”.

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“Israel and America stand shoulder to shoulder in countering the threat of Iran,” he said. “We agreed that the Ayatollahs must not have nuclear weapons and also agreed that Iran’s aggression in the region must be rolled back.”

Mr. Rubio said: “Behind every terrorist group, behind every act of violence, behind every destabilising activity, behind everything that threatens peace and stability for the millions of people that call this region home is Iran.”

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Mr. Netanyahu said Israel had dealt a “mighty blow” to Iran over the past 16 months since the start of the war in Gaza against Hamas and said that with the support of Mr. Trump “I have no doubt we can and will finish the job”.

He said Israel had weakened the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in southern Lebanon and had hit hundreds of targets in Syria to prevent a new Iranian-backed front opening up against Israel.

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“Now, if any other force believes that Israel will permit other hostile forces to use Syria as a base of operations against us, they are gravely mistaken,” Mr. Netanyahu said.

Thanking Mr. Rubio for “unequivocal backing” for Israel’s policy in Gaza, Mr. Netanyahu said Israel and the United States under President Donald Trump shared a common strategy in the Palestinian enclave, where a fragile ceasefire is in effect between Israel and Hamas militants after 15 months of war.

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“I want to assure everyone who’s now listening to us, President Trump and I are working in full cooperation and coordination between us,” he said.

Mr. Rubio added: “Hamas can not continue as a military or government force and as long as it stands as a force that can govern or administer or a force that can threaten by use of violence, peace becomes impossible.”

This photo released on Nov. 5, 2019, by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran shows centrifuge machines in the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran.
| Photo Credit: Adithya Narayan _11366@Chennai

Iran has agreed to increased monitoring by the UN nuclear watchdog at its Fordo enrichment plant, following its plans to ramp up production of highly enriched uranium at the site, the agency said in a report seen by AFP on Friday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said last week that Iran had revamped its Fordo enrichment plant (FFEP), south of Tehran.

The changes would “significantly increase the rate of production of uranium enriched up to 60 percent”, the agency said — close to the 90 percent needed to make a nuclear weapon.

The rate of production will jump to more than 34 kilogrammes of highly enriched uranium per month, compared to 4.7 kilogrammes previously, it added.

The IAEA called on Iran to implement inspections urgently, while European powers pressed Tehran to “immediately halt its nuclear escalation”.

“Iran agreed to the agency’s request to increase the frequency and intensity of the implementation of safeguards measures at FFEP,” the IAEA said in a confidential report seen by AFP.

Iran insists on its right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and has denied it is seeking a weapons capability.

But according to the IAEA, it is the only non-nuclear-weapon state enriching uranium to 60 percent purity.

Last month, Iran announced that it would launch “new and advanced” centrifuges in response to an IAEA board resolution that censured Tehran for its lack of cooperation with the agency.

Iran’s expansion of enrichment was “a clear message that they are responding to what they feel is pressure”, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told AFP last week.

Britain, France and Germany on Tuesday “condemned” Iran’s latest steps to expand its nuclear programme, “strongly urging” Tehran to reverse them.

In a letter to the UN Security Council, the three European powers raised the possibility of restoring sanctions against Iran to keep it from developing its nuclear programme.

Anouar El Anouni, the European Union foreign policy spokesman, on Friday said Iran’s latest move regarding uranium production close to military enrichment levels was “extremely concerning”.

Nuclear tensions between Iran and the West have simmered since Donald Trump withdrew from a landmark 2015 deal with Tehran during his first term as US president. The deal had exchanged sanctions relief for limits on Iran’s nuclear programme.

This photo released on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019, by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran shows centrifuge machines in Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran. Iran announced on Monday that had started gas injection into a 30-machine cascade of advanced IR-6 centrifuges in Natanz complex. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Iran said on Friday (November 22, 2024) it would launch a series of “new and advanced” centrifuges in response to a resolution adopted by the IAEA that censures Tehran for what the agency called lack of cooperation.

“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.”

The censure motion brought by Britain, France, Germany and the United States at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation board followed a similar one in June.

But it 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 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 confidential resolution seen by AFP says it is “essential and urgent” for Iran to “act to fulfil its legal obligations”.

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% purity.

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 withdred 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.

Tehran has since 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 still falls short of the 90 percent plus level required for a nuclear warhead but is substantially higher than the 3.67 percent limit it agreed to in 2015.

Vienna:

Planned discussions between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to resolve the impasse over Tehran’s nuclear programme have been suspended following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi this month, the agency said.

One day after the May 19 helicopter crash which killed Raisi and others “Iran indicated that due to the ‘special circumstances’, it was no longer appropriate to hold substantive discussions” and a new date would be set, according to a confidential report seen by AFP on Monday.

Tensions between Iran and the IAEA have repeatedly flared since a 2015 deal curbing Tehran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanction relief fell apart.

In recent years, Tehran has decreased its cooperation with the IAEA by deactivating surveillance devices needed to monitor the nuclear programme and barred UN inspectors.

Earlier this month, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi visited Iran in a bid to improve cooperation with Tehran.

After returning from his trip, Grossi decried “completely unsatisfactory” cooperation. 

In a separate confidential report seen by AFP ahead of an IAEA board of governors’ meeting next week, the agency said Iran’s estimated stockpile of enriched uranium had reached more than 30 times the limit set out in the 2015 accord between Tehran and world powers.

According to the report, Iran’s total enriched uranium stockpile was estimated at 6,201.3 kilogrammes as of May 11, up by 675.8 kilogrammes from the last quarterly report in February.

EU-mediated efforts to revive the deal — bringing the US back on board and Iran back into compliance — have so far been fruitless. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)