UN watchdog board urges Iran to improve cooperation

The UN atomic watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors passed a resolution again ordering Iran to urgently improve cooperation with the agency and requesting a "comprehensive" report aimed at pressuring Iran into fresh nuclear talks.

Britain, France, Germany and the United States, which proposed the resolution, dismissed as insufficient and insincere a last-minute Iranian move to cap its stock of uranium that is close to weapons-grade. Diplomats said Iran's move was conditional on scrapping the resolution.

Iran tends to bristle at such resolutions and has said it would respond in kind to this one.

China, Russia and Burkina Faso voted against the text, diplomats in the meeting said. Nineteen countries voted in favor and 12 abstained.

The IAEA and Iran have long been locked in standoffs on a range of issues including Tehran's failure to explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites, its barring last year of most of the agency's top uranium-enrichment experts on the Iran inspection team, and its refusal to expand IAEA monitoring.

Iran has condemned an "unjustifiable" resolution passed by the UN nuclear agency against the country's peaceful atomic program, ordering the activation of advanced centrifuges in a reciprocal response.

In a joint statement, Iranian Foreign Ministry and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said directives had been issued to "initiate the operation of a substantial number of advanced centrifuges of various models."

The measure, which is taken to safeguard Iran’s national interests and address its growing need for a civilian nuclear program , lies within the framework of the country’s rights and obligations under the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement, they said.

It noted that the aforesaid states had proposed a "politically motivated" resolution against the Islamic Republic, rather than fostering the constructive atmosphere established during the IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi's recent visit to Tehran.