Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Iran is to activate several thousands of its advanced centrifuges in reaction to a recent resolution issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The top diplomat made the remarks to his Spanish counterpart José Manuel Albares Bueno on the sidelines of a meeting of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) in the city of Cascais in southwestern Portugal on Tuesday.

Araghchi said the retaliatory measure was to come in reaction to the UK, France, and Germany’s forwarding the United States-backed resolution to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s Board of Governors and the body’s adoption of the resolution, which took place on Friday.

He considered the European trio’s policy towards the Islamic Republic to be “confrontational and meddlesome,” calling the approach unjustifiable and unconstructive.

The official urged that various regional and international matters, such as the Iranian nuclear energy program, rather be treated realistically and in line with the international law.


The United States and its European allies have been taking numerous similar measures against Iran in line with their accusation against the Islamic Republic of insufficient cooperation with the IAEA, although Tehran's cooperation with the body has increased in frequency and quality over the past years.

Resorting to legitimate reprisal, Iran has already activated a number of its advanced centrifuges in reaction to the recently adopted resolution.

The Islamic Republic has, however, repeatedly announced that it was prepared to retrace its retaliatory steps in response to positive attitude and measures on the part of the agency and the Western countries.