The body attached to the United Nations criticizes Tehran for not explaining the origin and nature of some uranium particles found in sites not declared as nuclear
Iran has slowed for the first time in months the rate of production of enriched uranium and has even reduced the reserves of this material, for dual use, civil and military, the IAEA, the UN nuclear agency, reported on Thursday in a report issued in Vienna. Total uranium in storage, of varying purity, fell 6.7% to 3,673.7 kilos since September, although the amount of uranium enriched to 60%—a level close to what is needed for an atomic bomb—increased 12% ( from 55.6 to 62.3 kilos).
The amount of uranium enriched by Iran at different levels (2%, 5%, 20% and 60%), fell between September and November by 267.2 kilos, up to 3,673.7 kilos, which is still well above what established by the 2015 international agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear program. The inspectors stress once again that Iran’s decision to disconnect dozens of IAEA surveillance and verification cameras hampers its ability to give assurances about the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program.
For this reason, surveillance and verification activities are “seriously affected,” says the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in its report. Reinstating verification and surveillance measures “would take considerable time and would always have a certain degree of uncertainty,” the report says. “The longer the current situation lasts, the greater this uncertainty will be,” the agency concludes.
On the other hand, the IAEA criticizes in a second report issued today that Iran continues without explaining the origin and nature of some uranium particles found in sites not declared as nuclear, although it announces new talks on the matter for the coming weeks.
Given the lack of progress in this investigation, which is taking place within the framework of the safeguards agreement (controls), the IAEA director general, Rafael Grossi, expresses his “serious concern”. At the same time, he “takes note” of the Iranian offer to discuss this matter in Tehran before the end of November, although he stresses that this meeting “should be focused on effectively clarifying and resolving these issues.”
IAEA inspectors obtained alleged trace evidence of artificially made uranium several years ago at three Iranian facilities that the Tehran government had never declared as related to its nuclear program. Not clarifying the origin of these traces would violate the safeguards agreement that Iran has signed with the IAEA, and could be denounced before the UN Security Council.
This investigation is not related to the controls – reduced by Tehran since February 2021 – that the IAEA carries out in Iran on its obligations under the international nuclear agreement known as JCPOA, for its acronym in English. According to this agreement, which has remained in limbo for several years, after the withdrawal of the treaty by the United States, Iran must limit its nuclear program in exchange for incentives and economic relief, mainly the lifting of international sanctions, which damage its economy.
While the safeguards agreement is not related to the JCPOA, Iran has tied its full return to the JCPOA to the end of IAEA trace investigations at undeclared sites. The countries that signed the agreement in 2015 (the United States, China, Russia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Iran) have been trying to restore the agreement since the arrival of Democrat Joe Biden to the US presidency in January 2021, but the Negotiations have been stalled for months.
Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, and Iran’s military support for Russia, a re-establishment of the JCPOA is in question.