¶¶Òõ¾«Æ·

Iran on Thursday vowed to significantly increase its output of enriched uranium in defiance of US demands ahead of a round of nuclear talks shrouded in trepidation amid reports of an imminent Israeli attack.

The announcement came after the UN nuclear watchdog accused Iran of non-compliance with its obligations, prompting Israel to say the world must respond ‘decisively’.

The United States, Israel and other Western countries have repeatedly accused Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, an accusation Tehran has categorically denied.

Ahead of the sixth round of US-Iran talks in Oman on Sunday, Tehran threatened to strike US bases in the region if negotiations fail and conflict erupts.

Uranium enrichment has emerged as the key point of contention, with Iran defending it as a ‘non-negotiable’ right in its pursuit of a civilian nuclear programme, while the United States has called it a ‘red line’.

On Thursday, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors adopted a resolution condemning Iran’s ‘non-compliance’ with its nuclear obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, carried by 19 votes in favour, out of 35 in total, diplomats said.

The resolution could lay the groundwork for European countries to invoke the ‘snapback’ mechanism under the 2015 nuclear deal, reinstating UN sanctions in response to Iranian non-compliance — an option that expires in October.

Iran’s nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami on Thursday slammed the IAEA resolution as ‘extremist’, blaming it on Israeli influence.

He insisted that Iran has upheld it commitments to the International Atomic Energy Agency but rolled back adherence to a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers after president Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the accord during his first term in office.

‘They can’t expect us to fulfil them without them Western countries honouring any of their commitments,’ he told state TV.

‘The necessary orders have been issued by the head of the Atomic Energy Organisation to launch a new enrichment centre in a secure location,’ said a joint statement from the organisation and the foreign ministry.

Iran will also be ’replacing all of these first-generation machines with sixth-generation advanced machines’ at the Fordow uranium enrichment plant south of Tehran, the organisation’s spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said.

This means ‘our production of enriched material will increase significantly,’ he told state TV.

Eslami said that enrichment would begin at the new ‘invulnerable’ site ‘as soon as the machines are installed’.

Iran currently enriches uranium to 60 per cent, far above the 3.67-percent limit set in the 2015 deal and close though still short of the 90 per cent needed for a nuclear warhead.

The United States and Iran have held five rounds of talks since April to hammer out a new nuclear deal, replacing the 2015 accord.

Trump appeared to shift his previously optimistic tone this week, saying he was ‘less confident’ a deal could be reached.

On Wednesday, following Iran’s threat to hit US bases in case of war, ordered US personnel to be moved from the potentially ‘dangerous’ Middle East.

On Thursday, the US embassy in Jerusalem restricted staff movements over security concerns, citing ‘increased regional tensions’.

A US official had earlier said that staff levels at the embassy in Iraq were being reduced over security concerns.

Oman’s foreign minister Badr Albusaidi nonetheless confirmed in a post on X on Thursday that the ‘6th round of Iran US talks will be held in Muscat this Sunday’.

Israel has repeatedly warned that it could attack Iranian nuclear sites, vowing to stop its arch foe from acquiring an atomic bomb.

On Thursday, its foreign ministry said Iran’s ‘actions undermine the global non-proliferation regime and pose an imminent threat to regional and international security and stability’.

Reports in US media, including NBC and the New York Times, on Wednesday said Israel was considering taking military action against Iran, likely without US support.

Iran has vowed to respond to any attack.

‘All its (US) bases are within our reach, we have access to them, and without hesitation we will target all of them in the host countries,’ Iran’s defence minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said in response to US threats of military action if the talks fail.

‘God willing, things won’t reach that point, and the talks will succeed,’ the minister said, but added that Washington ‘will suffer more losses’ if conflict erupts.

Following Iran’s vow to increase enrichment, the European Union called on Tehran ‘to show restraint’, while France accused Tehran of a ‘deliberate’ escalation.

On Wednesday, Iran’s permanent UN representative Amir Saeid Iravani said Tehran would consider ‘proportionate responses’ if the snapback mechanism is triggered — including ‘starting the process of withdrawal’ from the NPT.