Iran to Install More Centrifuges in Underground Natanz Site

Iran informed IAEA of three clusters of centrifuges to be installed

Iran has informed the IAEA of their intention to install three new cascades of centrifuges in their underground facility in Natanz.These are newer, more efficient variants of Iran’s centrifuge technology.

Iran installed the first cascade recently and is enriching with it. The nuclear agreement wasn’t meant to see better centrifuges put in place, but Iran says this is reversible once complaints about sanctions relief are resolved.

The resolution may be coming, as President-elect Joe Biden says he intends to bring the US back into the nuclear deal, and that is the source of the sanctions relief problem.

Iran announced it would move Natanz into the new underground facility over the summer, after an Israeli sabotage attack on the main site. This is intended to be harder to attack, which has made Israel very angry about the relocation.

This follows Wednesday’s vote in Iran’s Guardian Council to reduce nuclear commitments, a reaction to the assassination of top scientist Mohsen Fakhirazadeh last week. President Rouhani opposed this, saying it would harm diplomatic efforts.


Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.