Tehran has announced plans to significantly increase its enriched uranium production and establish a third, highly secure enrichment facility, just hours after the UN's nuclear watchdog passed a resolution criticising its cooperation, Tasnim news agency reported on June 12.

Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI), declared that Iran would launch a "very significant increase" in its enriched material output as a direct response to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors' resolution.

The IAEA’s 35-nation Board passed a resolution on June 12 formally stating that Iran has failed to adhere to its safeguards obligations regarding nuclear non-proliferation just days ahead of an announced meeting between the US and Iran in Oman over a new nuclear deal. 

Nineteen members of the Board voted in favour of the resolution. Russia, China and Burkina Faso opposed it, with 11 countries abstaining and two refraining from voting.

The resolution, proposed by France, Britain, Germany, and the United States, cites Iran's repeated failures since 2019 to cooperate fully and promptly with the Agency concerning undeclared nuclear material and activities at several sites. This marks the first time in two decades that such a resolution has been adopted against Iran by the Board.

Kamalvandi dismissed the resolution as a "repeated operation" by Western countries, warning that their approach of applying pressure cannot yield any result for them. He added, "Unfortunately, they believe that pressure in various forms will cause Iran to retreat from its rightful positions. This is a big strategic mistake they are making."

He confirmed that AEOI chief Mohammad Eslami had conveyed decisions outlined in a joint statement by the Foreign Ministry and AEOI on June 12.

These include the establishment of a third secure enrichment site and the replacement of first-generation centrifuges at the Fordow facility with advanced IR-6 machines. This upgrade, he explained, would lead to a "very significant" increase in enriched material production.

Iran's Foreign Ministry and AEOI condemned the resolution immediately after its adoption, calling it "a renewed instrumentalisation of this council" based on "political motives and without a technical and legal basis."

The resolution can be referred to the UN Security Council, where international sanctions on Iran could be reinstated under a mechanism within the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the “snapback”.

Iran's Ambassador to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani, had earlier threatened in a letter to the Security Council on June 11 that Tehran would withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if snapback is triggered.