Iran hints at weaponization ahead of nuclear talks with Europe

Iran raised the stakes ahead of nuclear talks with European powers on Friday, unveiling plans to expand uranium enrichment capabilities and hinting at a potential shift in policy toward weaponization.

The talks –set to take place in Geneva between Iran and the E3 (France, Britain and Germany)– aim to restore dialogue and foster cooperation, while both sides remain poised for confrontation.

Speaking in Lisbon ahead of the negotiations, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi suggested that any move by Western powers to reimpose UN sanctions could push Tehran over the edge.

“There is this debate going on in Iran, and mostly among the elites – even among the ordinary people – whether we should change our nuclear doctrine…because it has proved insufficient in practice,” Araghchi said in an interview carried by the Guardian on Thursday.

“This is the result after 10 to 12 years of negotiation, and after 10 years of implementation and homework and all these things, now, Iran is back under chapter seven [of the UN charter], what for,” he said, adding that UN sanctions would convince everybody in Iran that cooperation has been wrong.

This is not the first time Iranian officials hint at a possible revision of the country’s defense doctrine. It follows months of direct confrontation with Israel, including Israeli airstrikes on Iran's nuclear sites, and long-held frustration with what Tehran views as European failures to deliver on their commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal.

The nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA), was intended to limit Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. The deal unraveled in all but name when Donald Trump withdrew the United States from it in 2018.

A confidential report by the UN's nuclear watchdog revealed Iran’s plans to significantly enhance its uranium enrichment infrastructure. The report, shared with member states and seen by Reuters on Thursday, detailed Tehran’s intention to install 32 new cascades of centrifuges, including an array of 1,152 advanced IR-6 machines, at its Fordow and Natanz sites.

"Iran has informed the IAEA that it intends to feed uranium feedstock into the eight IR-6 centrifuge cascades recently installed at Fordow to enrich to up to 5% purity,"
Reuters reported citing the IAEA report.

The report said Tehran informed the IAEA that it intends to test intermediate and full cascades of up to 174 IR-4, IR-6, or IR-2M centrifuges in 15 R&D production lines at its above-ground pilot fuel enrichment plant (PFEP) at Natanz.

Iran already has more than 10,000 centrifuges operating across its underground and above-ground sites. The new move is part of Iran's response to a recent censure resolution passed by the IAEA Board of Governors, urging Tehran's cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.