Iran Parliament's Bid to End Nuclear Inspections Hits Opposition

The Iranian parliament's backing on Tuesday of a plan to end nuclear inspections after the assassination of the country's top nuclear scientist has met immediate opposition from the government.

Deputies supported a draft bill "for the lifting of sanctions and protection of the Iranian people's interests", saying they wanted to achieve the objectives of "martyred" scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

Fakhrizadeh was assassinated on a major road outside Tehran on Friday in a bomb and gun attack that the Islamic republic has blamed on its arch foe Israel.

"The government has explicitly announced that it does not agree with (this) plan" which it considers "neither necessary nor useful", foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a news conference Tuesday.

The draft bill calls on the government to end UN inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities and to "produce and store 120 kilogrammes per year of uranium enriched to 20 percent".

Such steps would run counter to commitments made by Iran as part of a landmark nuclear deal agreed with world powers in 2015.

The deal offers Iran relief from sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme and UN-verified safeguards to prove it is not developing nuclear weapons.

The Islamic Republic has always denied it is seeking such weaponry.

Seemingly in response to Israel's characterisation of Fakhrizadeh as the father of a secret nuclear weapons programme, Khatibzadeh said that the scientist had been "one of the main assistants behind the scenes in discussions" that led to the 2015 accord.

State news agency IRNA on Tuesday released undated pictures of Fakhrizadeh being awarded a medal by Iran's President Hassan Rouhani for his "contribution" to the Vienna agreement.

The multilateral accord has been hanging by a thread since 2018, when President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States and reimposed sanctions that have battered Iran's economy.

Iran has retaliated by gradually rolling back most of its commitments under the nuclear deal.

In its latest report last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran had enriched uranium over the 3.67 percent limit set out in the 2015 accord.

The UN's nuclear watchdog said that Iran had not exceeded the threshold of 4.5 percent and that the country was still complying with its strict inspections regime.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Iran's government spokesman Ali Rabiei emphasised that the only institution mandated to make decisions on the country's nuclear programme was the Supreme National Security Council.

He also noted that any decisions made by that body require approval by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In an interview with AFP on Monday, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said Iran had nothing to gain from ending inspections of its nuclear facilities.

"We understand the distress but at the same time it is clear that no-one, starting with Iran, would have anything to win from a decrease, limitation or interruption of the work we do together with them," Grossi said.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Has Nothing to Gain From Halting Inspections: Grossi

By Jastinder Khera and Anne Beade

Iran has nothing to gain from ending inspections of its nuclear facilities, the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog warned as tensions rise after a top Iranian nuclear scientist was assassinated.

In an interview with AFP after a year in office, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi issued the appeal in response to calls by Iranian MPs to end inspections following the killing.

"We understand the distress but at the same time it is clear that no-one, starting with Iran, would have anything to win from a decrease, limitation or interruption of the work we do together with them," Grossi said.

Grossi, 59, confirmed that so far the IAEA had not yet received any signal from Iranian authorities that anything would change regarding inspections in the wake of the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

Iran's parliament on Sunday demanded a halt to those inspections, signalling another potential retreat from a key commitment in its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

This is not the first time that parliamentarians have expressed themselves in this way or in very similar ways," Grossi pointed out.

"We haven't received any indication of restriction or limitation of their cooperation with us," he said. "I do not see any reason to believe that this would be the case now."

Grossi emphasised that the IAEA's extensive inspections regime was "essential" if the outside world was to have assurances about the nature of Iran's nuclear programme.

Fakhrizadeh was laid to rest on Monday, three days after he was assassinated on a major road outside Tehran.

"Let me say that we abhor violence of any type, we are an international organisation for peace and security," Grossi said.

The killing could put yet more strain on diplomatic efforts to salvage Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which has been disintegrating ever since the Trump administration withdrew from it two years ago.

High-Stakes Gamble

Iran has been one of the thorniest issues Grossi has had to tackle over an eventful year since taking office in early December 2019.

"They have a very large nuclear programme that requires as you know one of the biggest, if not the biggest efforts in terms of inspection. Without that... the instability in the region would be far higher," Grossi said.

A high point during his leadership was his trip to Tehran in August which ended in an agreement allowing IAEA inspectors access to two sites where undeclared nuclear activity may have taken place in the 2000s.

That had followed months where Tehran had denied access to the locations.

"I was served with a denial of access to two sites barely 40 days into the job, something that had never happened before in the history of the IAEA," Grossi recalls.

He admitted that some member states and analysts had thought his gambit of flying to Iran for talks was a risk.

However, it paid off and won him plaudits in Vienna's diplomatic circles.

'Sense of Urgency'

However, when it comes to another controversial undeclared site, in the Turquzabad district of Tehran, Grossi said there were still unanswered questions over the presence of nuclear material.

"I do not want to dramatise but it is important that we get clarification," he said.

While not setting a deadline for Iran to provide the necessary information, Grossi said "a sense of urgency is clear on my side" and recalled that the site has been under discussion for almost two years now.

Grossi said his proudest achievement was that the agency managed to keep going throughout the coronavirus despite the challenges.

"I had to argue my way with foreign ministers, I had to hire private planes to send my inspectors - it wasn't easy."

Looking to the year ahead, Grossi said he hoped the Agency would be a "priority" for the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden.

Photo: IRNA

UN Nuclear Watchdog to Visit 2nd Iran Site in 'a Few Days'

The head of UN's nuclear watchdog said Monday that inspectors would "in a few days" visit the second of two sites in Iran where undeclared nuclear activity may have taken place in the early 2000s.

Iran's refusal to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) access to the two sites had caused a diplomatic row for months.

This had further strained efforts to save the 2015 landmark Iran nuclear deal, which has hung by a thread since the US pulled out of it in 2018.

The accord promises Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbing its nuclear program, but Tehran has stepped up nuclear activities since last year after the US reimposed sanctions.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said a visit to a second site, to which the agency had requested access, was imminent following a recent visit to the first.

"The second one will happen in a few days," he told reporters after opening the agency's 35-member board of governors' meeting.

He said analyzing environmental samples collected at the first site would take "not less than a couple of months, two or three months maybe".

Tehran announced in late August that it would allow the IAEA access to the two sites, following a visit to Tehran by Grossi.

The denial had prompted the IAEA's board of governors to pass a resolution in June urging Tehran to comply with the agency's requests.

Under the 2015 accord, the IAEA monitors Iran's nuclear activities and regularly updates its members.

In its latest report, the IAEA said Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium now stands at more than ten times the limit set down in the 2015 deal.

Iran is also continuing to use more advanced centrifuges to enrich uranium than is permitted under the deal.

However, the level of enrichment has not gone above that which would be needed for use in a nuclear weapon.

The head of Iran's atomic agency, Ali Akbar Salehi, said Sunday that 1,044 centrifuges were active at the Fordow uranium enrichment plant.

The suspension of all enrichment at the underground facility was one of the restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities under the Iran nuclear accord.

Photo: IAEA

Iran Nuclear Deal Parties Stand by Troubled Accord Amid US Pressure

By Julia Zappei

The signatories to the Iran nuclear deal said Tuesday that they stood by the faltering accord, opposing US efforts to restore international sanctions on the Iran.

Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia are struggling to save the landmark 2015 accord with Iran, which has been progressively stepping up its nuclear activities since the United States pulled out of the deal in 2018.

Tehran insists it is entitled to do so under the terms of the accord—which swapped sanctions relief for Iran's agreement to scale back its nuclear program—following Washington's withdrawal and reimposition of sanctions.

EU senior official Helga Schmid, who chaired the talks in Vienna on Tuesday, wrote on Twitter that the meeting's participants were "united in resolve to preserve the #IranDeal and find a way to ensure full implementation of the agreement despite current challenges".   In a later statement, she added that all parties reiterated that "the US cannot initiate the process of reinstating UN sanctions" by drawing on a United Nations resolution enshrining the nuclear accord, which they have left.

Representatives from Britain, China, France, Germany, Iran and Russia all attended the talks—part of a regular series of gatherings to discuss the accord, which have been increasingly tense since the US pullout began unravelling the agreement.

'Mockery'

China's representative, senior Foreign Ministry official Fu Cong, told reporters after the meeting that Iran needed to come back to full compliance, but at the same time "the economic benefit that is due to Iran needs to be provided.”

He slammed the US for "making a mockery of international law" in its "attempt to sabotage and to kill the JCPOA", referring to the abbreviation of the deal's formal name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.  

Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov was also quoted by Russian news agency RIA Novosti as saying participants were united in their "general, unanimous lack of recognition" of Washington's move. 

The United Nations last week blocked the US bid to reimpose international sanctions on Iran, while Washington also failed to rally enough support to extend an arms embargo on Iran that is scheduled to start being rolled back from October.

In a boost to Tuesday's talks, the Iranian atomic energy agency last week also agreed to allow inspectors of the UN nuclear watchdog to visit two sites suspected of having hosted undeclared activity in the early 2000s. 

Schmid said meeting participants "welcomed" the agreement reached during International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi's first trip to Iran after months of calling for access.

US 'Isolated'

Mark Fitzpatrick, an associate fellow of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), told AFP ahead of the talks that the agreement on access kept "Iran generally in line with the rest of the world, against an isolated United States.”

But Fitzpatrick pointed out that "Iran's nuclear activities remain of deep concern to those states that are dedicated to non-proliferation".

Iran reportedly recently transferred advanced centrifuges used to enrich uranium from a pilot facility into a new hall at its main Natanz nuclear fuel plant, which was hit by sabotage in July.   When asked about this by AFP, Iran's representative at the talks, deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, said details regarding this had been given to the IAEA, declining to comment further.

"We are completely transparent in our nuclear program. The agency has been always informed and is informed now about every detail of our program, every movement in our equipment," he said.

An IAEA assessment published in June said Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium was almost eight times the limit fixed in the accord.

The level of enrichment is still far below what would be needed for a nuclear weapon, and Iran has insisted it can reverse the steps it has taken since last year—if it can again benefit economically again under the deal.

The IAEA, which regular updates its members on Iran's nuclear activities, is expected to issue a fresh report ahead of a meeting of member states to discuss the dossier later this month.

Photo: Wikicommons

Iran Allows UN Access to Alleged Nuclear Sites

Iran agreed Wednesday to allow a UN watchdog the access it has requested to two alleged nuclear sites, as the head of the agency ended his first visit to Tehran.

The announcement came only hours after Iran's arch foe the United States suffered a humiliating defeat when the United Nations blocked its controversial bid to reimpose international sanctions on the Islamic republic.

The US move had threatened to torpedo a historic 2015 accord under which Iran had agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

The deal known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has been hanging by a thread since US President Donald Trump's unilateral decision to withdraw from it in 2018.

Iran has retaliated by gradually reducing its commitments to the JCPOA ever since.

But it agreed on Wednesday to grant the International Atomic Energy Agency the access it has sought to two sites that were suspected of having hosted undeclared activity in the early 2000s.

"Iran is voluntarily providing the IAEA with access to the two locations specified by the IAEA," the two sides said in a joint statement, adding they had agreed on dates for the access and the verification activities there.

The announcement came at the end of IAEA director general Rafael Grossi's first visit to Iran since the Argentine took the post last year.

In their statement, the two sides said the agreement followed "intensive bilateral consultations" and that the IAEA had no further access requests.

"Based on analysis of available information to the IAEA, the IAEA does not have further questions to Iran and further requests for access to locations," they said.

"Both sides recognize the independence, impartiality and professionalism of the IAEA continue to be essential in the fulfillment of its verification activities," they added.

'Sworn Enemies'

The IAEA's board of governors had passed a resolution in late June put forward by Britain, France and Germany, urging Tehran to provide inspectors access to the two disputed sites.

Grossi met with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday before wrapping up his visit.

"Iran, like before, is ready to closely cooperate with the agency in the framework of safeguards," Rouhani said, according to the government's official website.

He called the agreement "favorable" and said it can help "finally settle issues".

Rouhani also called on Grossi to consider that Iran has "sworn enemies" with nuclear weapons who do not cooperate with the IAEA and are "always seeking to cause issues" for Tehran. 

The IAEA monitors Iran's nuclear activities as part of the 2015 nuclear agreement between the Islamic republic and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany.

Since the US pullout, the remaining participants to the deal have been struggling to save it.

Access to the two disputed sites had been blocked for months, prompting a diplomatic row.

According to the spokesman for Iran's nuclear body, one of the two is located in central Iran between Isfahan and Yazd provinces, and the other is close to Tehran.

Iran had argued that the IAEA's access requests are based on allegations from Israel and have no legal basis.

After meeting Grossi, head of Iran's atomic agency, Ali Akbar Salehi, said a "new chapter" had started in relations between the country and the agency.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Hails 'Constructive' Talks With Visiting IAEA Chief

By Amir Havasi

Iran's nuclear body said it held "constructive" talks on Tuesday with the visiting head of the International Atomic Energy Agency amid tensions over a US bid to reimpose UN sanctions.

The trip is Rafael Mariano Grossi's first to the Islamic republic since the Argentine took the helm of the Vienna-based UN agency last year.

It comes more than two years after US President Donald Trump pulled out of a landmark international agreement that put curbs on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Grossi first met with the head of the country's atomic agency, Ali Akbar Salehi. Later he is due to meet Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

"A new chapter has started with this visit," Salehi said after the meeting, quoted by state news agency IRNA.

"Today's talks were constructive," he added.

"It was decided that the agency continue its work professionally and independently and Iran, too, act in the framework of its commitments."

Salehi said Iran's "enemies will not rest" but noted that Tehran has "so far been able to manage the issue".

‘Safeguards Verification'

Access to the two disputed sites has been blocked for months, prompting a diplomatic row.

Iran has argued that the IAEA's access requests are based on allegations from the country's arch-enemy Israel and have no legal basis.

The two sides were working on a statement which will be announced "in due time", Salehi added.

Grossi said later in a tweet that the two sides were working on "reaching an agreement on IAEA's safeguards verification activities in Iran."

In a statement before the talks, the nuclear body had said Iran expects the IAEA to "maintain neutrality in any situation and refrain from entering international political games."

The UN agency's board of governors had passed a resolution in late June put forward by European states, urging Tehran to provide inspectors access to two sites to help clarify whether undeclared nuclear activity took place there in the early 2000s.

According to the spokesman for Iran's nuclear body, one of the two is located in central Iran between Isfahan and Yazd provinces, and the other is close to Tehran.

He hinted in a Monday interview with Iran's Al-Alam television network that access may be granted if the agency does not demand more.

"To prevent enemies from exploiting the situation... we are seeking ways to alleviate our concerns and say there is access, see there's nothing," Behrouz Kamalvandi was quoted as saying.

"But this issue must be resolved once and for all... meaning that they would not demand afterwards to inspect somewhere else in the same way," he added.

US 'Snapback' Bid

Grossi's visit comes amid tensions between the US and its European allies over Washington's bid to maintain an arms embargo on Iran and reimpose UN sanctions.

It also takes place shortly before a September 1 meeting of the joint commission on the 2015 nuclear agreement.

Washington controversially maintains it has the right to force the reimposition of sanctions through the agreement's "snapback" mechanism, despite its withdrawal.

Britain, France and Germany rejected the move, saying it frustrated their efforts to salvage the accord.

The deal has been on life-support and tensions escalating since Trump's decision to pull out of the deal formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

In retaliation, Iran has progressively abandoned nuclear commitments under the accord.

Grossi is also expected to meet Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday before flying back to Vienna.

Photo: Twitter

IAEA Head to Make First Visit to Iran on Monday

The head of the UN atomic watchdog will to go Tehran on Monday for meetings with senior Iranian officials aimed at improving cooperation on Iran's nuclear activities, the IAEA said.

The visit comes amid tensions between the US and its European allies over Washington's bid to maintain an arms embargo on Iran and reimpose UN sanctions dating back to 2006.

It will be the first visit to Iran by Rafael Mariano Grossi since he became director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency in December.

The IAEA said in a statement on Saturday that Grossi will address Iran's cooperation with the agency and in particular access for its inspectors to certain sites.

"My objective is that my meetings in Tehran will lead to concrete progress in addressing the outstanding questions that the agency has related to safeguards in Iran and, in particular, to resolve the issue of access," he said.

“I also hope to establish a fruitful and cooperative channel of direct dialogue with the Iranian Government which will be valuable now and in the future.”

His visit takes place shortly before a September 1 meeting in Vienna of the joint commission on the landmark 2015 deal between Iran and global powers that aims to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear bomb.

The US and European nations are at loggerheads after Washington began the process Thursday of activating a controversial mechanism aimed at restoring UN sanctions on Iran.

Britain, France and Germany rejected the move, saying it frustrated their efforts to salvage the 2015 accord that US President Donald Trump pulled out of two years ago.

Washington controversially maintains it has the right to force the reimposition of sanctions through the agreement's "snapback" mechanism despite its withdrawal.

Photo: IAEA

UN Nuclear Watchdog Passes Resolution Criticizing Iran

The board of governors at the UN's nuclear watchdog has passed a resolution critical of Iran, diplomatic sources said Friday, the first of its kind since 2012.

The resolution calls on Tehran to provide inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with access to two sites in Iran in order to clarify whether undeclared nuclear activity took place there in the early 2000s.

 Iran has been blocking access to the sites for months.

Earlier this week Iran warned that such a resolution would be "counterproductive" and that it would take "appropriate measures" in response.

Even though the sites in question are not thought to be directly relevant to Iran's current nuclear program, the agency says it needs to know if activities going back almost two decades have been properly declared and all materials accounted for.

Despite the row over the two sites, the IAEA says it still has the access it needs to inspect Iran's declared nuclear facilities, as the agency is mandated to do under the landmark deal between Iran and world powers reached in 2015.

However the latest row comes as that deal continues to unravel, with Iran continuing to breach the limits on nuclear activity in the accord in retaliation for the United States' withdrawal from it and reimposition of sanctions.

Photo: Wikicommons

Iran Warns Against UN Nuclear Watchdog Resolution

Iran criticized on Tuesday a plan to put forward a resolution at a meeting of the UN's nuclear watchdog urging the country to allow access to two disputed sites.

European states are expected to submit the resolution at the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) board of governors' meeting this week.

"Introduction of this resolution aiming to call on Iran to cooperate with the Agency... is disappointing and absolutely counterproductive," said Kazem Gharib Abadi, Iran's UN ambassador in Vienna.

Diplomats say the resolution will call on Iran to provide access to two locations where past nuclear activity may have occurred -- sites to which the IAEA has been trying to gain access for months.

At the start of this week's meeting on Monday, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi repeated his appeal to Iran to "cooperate immediately and fully" and grant access.

Even though the sites in question are not thought to be directly relevant to Iran's current nuclear program, the agency says it needs to know if activities going back almost two decades have been properly declared and all materials accounted for.

But in Tuesday's statement, Gharib Abadi warned that if the resolution was adopted, "Iran would have no choice but to take appropriate measures, the consequences of which would be upon the sponsors of such political and destructive approaches".

He did not specify what these measures would be.

Gharib Abadi argued that the IAEA's access requests were based on allegations from Iran's arch-enemy Israel.

Additional information provided by the IAEA in support of its requests "were merely some commercial satellite imageries that contained no convincing underlying reason" to provide access, he added.

'Complication and Difficulties'

The IAEA's board of governors has not passed a resolution critical of Iran since 2012.

While a new resolution would be largely symbolic in character, it could be a prelude for the dispute being referred to the UN Security Council, the only UN body that can impose sanctions.

However, there is the added complication that due to the coronavirus pandemic the IAEA board of governors' meeting is taking place in a virtual format.

Russia has been particularly active in resisting the prospect of remote voting and on Monday it was decided that a physical meeting would be convened if a vote needs to be held.

It is not clear how quickly such a meeting could be organized.

Also on Tuesday Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Moscow where his Russian opposite number Sergei Lavrov pledged to stand by Tehran, while referring to "developments taking place right now in Vienna" and "ideas our western friends are floating in New York".

"We will be very firmly opposing any attempts to use this situation in order to manipulate the Security Council and to promote an anti-Iranian agenda," Lavrov said.

Despite the row over the two sites, the IAEA says it still has the access it needs to Iran's nuclear facilities to monitor its current activities, as the agency is mandated to do under the landmark deal between Iran and world powers reached in 2015.

The deal has been unravelling since US President Donald Trump withdrew from it two years ago and went on to re-impose harsh economic sanctions on Iran.

In retaliation Iran has been slowly abandoning limits on its activities set out under the deal, including on the size and enrichment level of its uranium stockpile.

Iran has accused the European parties to the deal—France, the UK and Germany—of not doing enough to mitigate the impact of American sanctions.

In his statement, Gharib Abadi hinted that pressing ahead with the resolution could cause "complication and difficulties" for the future of the 2015 accord.

Photo: IRNA

UN Nuclear Watchdog Chief Asks Iran for Access to Disputed Sites

By Jastinder Khera

The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog on Monday called on Iran to allow "prompt access" to two sites where past nuclear activity may have occurred.

"I hope we can do better," Rafael Grossi, director general of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters when asked about the agency's current relationship with Iran.

Grossi was speaking at the start of a meeting of the agency's Board of Governors which is expected to discuss a report earlier this month in which the IAEA expressed "serious concern" that Iran has been blocking inspections at two sites.

"There are areas where our cooperation is ongoing and there is this issue where quite clearly we are in disagreement," he said.

Grossi repeated an appeal to Iran to "cooperate immediately and fully" with the agency.

If the Board of Governors pass a resolution critical of Iran, it would be the first of its kind since 2012.

Even though the two sites in question are not thought to be directly relevant to Iran's current activities, the agency says it needs to know if activities going back almost two decades have been properly declared and all materials accounted for.

The report detailed efforts by the agency's officials to get access to the locations.

Iran told the agency the report was a source of "deep regret and disappointment" and hinted the queries were based on "fabricated information" from "intelligence services".

Israel has previously claimed its intelligence services unearthed information on an alleged previous nuclear weapons program in Iran.

Grossi said that there were "no legal ambiguities" around the requests for access.

"The agency works on the basis of a very rigorous, dogged, meticulous technical and scientific analysis of information," he said, insisting: "Nothing is taken at face value."

Western states have voiced concern over Iran's denial of access to the sites concerned, with the United States being particularly vocal.

Brink of Collapse

The latest row over access comes as a landmark deal between Iran and world powers in 2015 continues to unravel.

Under the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran committed to curtailing its nuclear activities for sanctions relief and other benefits.

But the Islamic republic has slowly abandoned its commitments after US President Donald Trump's decision two years ago to renounce the deal and reimpose harsh sanctions.

Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium is now almost eight times the limit fixed in the accord, according to an IAEA assessment published earlier this month.

However, the level of enrichment is still far below what would be needed for a nuclear weapon.

The IAEA says it continues to have access to all the facilities needed to monitor Iran's current nuclear activity.

The latest tension will further complicate efforts by the deal's EU signatories—the so-called E3 of France, Germany and Britain—to keep the deal from collapsing.

Trump has called for the E3 to follow his lead and leave the deal.

Last month, the US said it was ending sanctions waivers for nations that remain in the Iran nuclear accord—a move likely to have most impact on Russian firms working on Iran's nuclear program.

The American move brought condemnation from the E3 and was branded "unlawful" by Tehran.

Iran is also concerned that the US is pushing for an extension to an international arms embargo against Tehran which is set to be progressively eased from October.

Last week Iranian President Hassan Rouhani urged other UN Security Council members, especially veto-wielding China and Russia, to stand against the American "conspiracy".

Photo: Wikicommons

UN Nuclear Watchdog Has 'Serious Concern' at Iran Denying Inspections

By Jastinder Khera

Iran has now accumulated enriched uranium at nearly eight times the limit of a 2015 deal and has for months blocked inspections at sites where historic nuclear activity may have occurred, the UN watchdog said Friday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) noted "with serious concern that, for over four months, Iran has denied access to the Agency... to two locations," according to a report seen by AFP.

The IAEA has questions as to the possible "use or storage of nuclear material" at the two sites and that one of them "may have been used for the processing and conversion of uranium ore including fluorination in 2003".

The aforementioned site "underwent significant changes in 2004, including the demolition of most buildings", the IAEA report noted.

A third site where the IAEA has queries about the possible presence of undeclared natural uranium "underwent extensive sanitization and leveling in 2003 and 2004," according to the report.

The findings are expected to be discussed at a meeting of the agency's board of governors, which has been delayed until the week starting June 15.

The United States has been particularly vocal in its criticism of Iran for 
refusing access to the sites.

A diplomatic source said that they "expect that the board will be united to request Iran to provide access" for the agency.

Escalating Tensions

In a separate report, the IAEA warned that Iran's enriched uranium stockpile is now almost eight times the limit set in a 2015 deal.

The limit was 300 kilograms (661 pounds) of enriched uranium in a particular compound form, which is the equivalent of 202.8 kg of uranium. 

In comparison to the latter number, the report said Iran's stockpile stood at 1,571.6 kg on May 20.

The highest level of enrichment in the stockpile is currently 4.5 percent, over the deal's limit of 3.67 percent but far below the more than 90 percent level experts say would be necessary for a nuclear weapon.

A diplomatic source said that Iran's rate of enrichment had not significantly changed since the agency's previous report on the issue in early March. 

The IAEA says that it still has access to all the nuclear sites needed in order to monitor Iran's current nuclear activity despite difficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The agency has been chartering aircraft to get its inspectors to Iran due to the collapse in availability of commercial flights to the country, which has been hard hit COVID-19.

Inspectors are also being tested for the virus before departing for Iran and before they return. 

Iran has been progressively breaking the restrictions laid down in the 2015 deal in retaliation for US President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the accord in 2018 and the US's subsequent re-imposition of sanctions. 

Iran reached the deal to curb its nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief with the United States—under president Barack Obama—Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China.

Last week the US said it was ending waivers in its sanctions for nations that remain in the Iran nuclear accord, bringing the deal further to the verge of collapse.

Tensions between Tehran and Washington escalated after Trump abandoned the deal and the long-standing enemies have appeared to come to the brink of a direct conflict twice in the past year.

The most recent was in January when Iran fired a barrage of missiles at US troops stationed in Iraq in retaliation for a US drone strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, a top Iranian general.

 Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday brushed aside Trump's hopes of diplomatic progress after the two countries carried out a prisoner swap.

"We achieved humanitarian swap *despite* your subordinates' efforts," Zarif tweeted, emphasizing that it was the US that had walked away from the 2015 deal.

Photo: Wikicommons

UN Nuclear Watchdog Asks Iran to 'Immediately' Cooperate

The head of the UN's atomic watchdog on Monday urged Iran to "cooperate immediately and fully" with a landmark nuclear agreement with world powers that is hanging by a thread.

The agency called on Iran to provide access to two locations, and said Tehran had failed to engage "in substantive discussions" to clarify the agency's questions, said Rafael Grossi, the new chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Grossi said the IAEA had raised questions "related to possible undeclared nuclear material and nuclear-related activities at three locations that have not been declared by Iran.”

He added that the lack of access to two of the three sites and Iran's failure to engage in talks was "adversely affecting the agency's ability... to provide credible assurance of the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran". 

An IAEA report last week revealed that Tehran refused the agency access in January to the two sites.

Diplomats say these are related to Iran's alleged military nuclear projects in the 2000s, and not its current activities.

But the renewed focus on Iran's historic program could add to current tensions.

Iran's UN ambassador in Vienna, Kazem Gharib Abadi, said last week that Tehran had no obligation to grant IAEA access to sites if it deems the requests to be based on "fabricated information", accusing the US and Israel of trying to "exert pressure on the agency.”

Israel has claimed that its intelligence services have new information on the alleged previous nuclear weapons program in Iran.

A second IAEA report last week outlined Iran's continued breaches of the terms of the 2015 nuclear accord, but did not report any restrictions in access to nuclear facilities.

Speaking at a quarterly meeting of IAEA's 35-member Board of Governors, Grossi said "to date, the agency has not observed any changes to Iran's implementation of its nuclear-related commitments" since January when Tehran announced it would cease all obligations.

The 2015 accord—offering Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear activities -- has been faltering since the US withdrew from it in 2018 and re-imposed harsh sanctions on Iran.

This has prompted Tehran to progressively abandon the accord's restrictions since last year. 

Other parties to the deal—China, Britain, Germany, France and Russia—have been meeting with Tehran to try to save the accord.

Photo: IAEA

IAEA Chief Demands 'Clarifications' on Iran's Nuclear Program

By Didier Lauras and Jastinder Khera

The head of the UN's atomic watchdog on Tuesday sounded the alarm at Iran's cooperation with the agency and demanded "clarifications" over an undeclared site in Tehran where uranium particles were found late last year.

It comes on the same day as the IAEA issued two reports, one on Iran's current nuclear program and the other detailing its denial of access to two sites the agency wanted to visit.

Rafael Grossi, the new head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who was in Paris to meet President Emmanuel Macron, told AFP: "Iran must decide to cooperate in a clearer manner with the agency to give the necessary clarifications."

"The fact that we found traces (of uranium) is very important. That means there is the possibility of nuclear activities and material that are not under international supervision and about which we know not the origin or the intent.

"That worries me," Grossi added.

The IAEA has for months been pressing Tehran for information about the kind of activities being carried out at the undeclared site where the uranium particles were found.

While the IAEA has not identified the site in question, diplomatic sources told AFP the agency asked Iran about a site in the Turquzabad district of Tehran, where Israel has alleged secret atomic activity in the past.

In addition, according to a report issued by the IAEA on Tuesday, "the Agency identified a number of questions related to possible undeclared nuclear material and nuclear-related activities at three locations in Iran".

At one of them the report said the IAEA had from early July 2019 observed "activities... consistent with effort to sanitize part of the location".

A diplomatic source said that the three locations were separate to Turquzabad.

The source also said that the agency's queries were thought to relate to Iran's historic nuclear activities and not to its compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

The IAEA report says the agency first raised questions about the sites last year and that Iran refused access to two of them that the agency wished to visit in late January.

Iran then sent the IAEA a letter saying it did "not recognize any allegation on past activities and does not consider itself obliged to respond to such allegations".

Deal in Danger

The second report from the agency detailed Iran's current breaches of several parts of a landmark 2015 international deal on scaling back its nuclear programme.

The report showed Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium now stands at more than five times the limit fixed under the accord.

It said that as of February 19, 2020 the Iranian stockpile stood at the equivalent of 1,510 kilogrammes, as opposed to the 300 kg limit set under the agreement.

Some experts consider this amount to provide sufficient material to produce a nuclear weapon, depending on its exact level of purity.

However, it would still need several more steps, including further enrichment, to make it suitable for use in a weapon.

The report says that Iran has not been enriching uranium above 4.5 percent.

An enrichment level of around 90 percent would be needed for weapons use.

Richard Nephew, a former lead US sanctions expert during the negotiations for the 2015 deal, pointed out that while the latest figures were "a problem (that)... needs to be addressed", Iran's uranium stockpile remains a fraction of what it was before the deal actually came into force.

"This remains not yet a crisis and we have time to fix it diplomatically, if anyone in Washington or Tehran is still so inclined," he said on Twitter.

The 2015 deal has been hanging by a thread since the US withdrew from it in May 2018 and went on to impose stinging sanctions on Iran, in particular targeting its vital oil sector.

The latest IAEA reports come just days after a meeting in Vienna of the remaining parties to the deal ended without a clear plan to keep the accord alive.

The 2015 agreement promised Iran an easing of very damaging economic and other sanctions in return for scaling back its nuclear programme.

Tehran has been progressively reducing its commitments to the accord in retaliation for the US move.

Photo: Wikicommons

Iran Nuclear Crisis Escalates With New Inspections Report

By Jonathan Tirone

Iran accused an international atomic monitor of setting off explosives detectors at its main enrichment plant, ratcheting up tensions that threaten to tip the nation into a new nuclear crisis.

The International Atomic Energy Agency inspector triggered alarms during routine screening on Oct. 28 at Iran’s Natanz enrichment facility, Ambassador Gharib Abadi said at a briefing in Vienna. The IAEA recalled the inspector after she was questioned by Iranian authorities over traces of explosives detected in her handbag.

The IAEA refuted the charge. “The agency does not agree with Iran’s characterization of the situation involving the inspector, who was carrying out official safeguards duties,” it said in an email. Iran shouldn’t have delayed her departure, the agency said.

The Iranian allegation was made shortly after IAEA officials said Iran had failed to cooperate with its probe into radioactive samples discovered at a site identified by Israel.

“There were suspicious materials involved in this incident,” Abadi said. “Iran expects the necessary level of cooperation during the investigation.” U.S. ambassador to the IAEA, Jackie Wolcott, called the detention of the monitor for questioning an “outrageous and unwarranted act of intimidation,” according to a statement.

The agency’s top inspector, Massimo Aparo, had told diplomats in a closed-door meeting in Vienna on Wednesday that Iran is evading attempts to discover the source of man-made and natural uranium particles detected at a warehouse in Tehran earlier this year, according to two officials familiar with the briefing who asked not to be identified.

New Front

IAEA acting director General Cornel Feruta convened an extraordinary meeting of the 35-member board of governors Thursday to discuss the new concerns. The Romanian diplomat said only last month that Iran had taken “a step in the right direction” in attempting to clarify matters troubling inspectors.

“Iran should provide full and timely cooperation,” the IAEA said in an emailed statement. “The IAEA is ready to continue interactions with Iran with a view to resolving the matter as soon as possible.”

The findings threaten to open a new front in the tense confrontation that has erupted over Iran’s nuclear program since the U.S. withdrew from the multi-power nuclear deal with Tehran last year and reimposed punishing economic sanctions. Iran, which has vowed to return to the nuclear deal once the U.S. does the same, this week announced it would begin enriching uranium at Fordow, a fortified site built into the side of a mountain.

European signatories say they remain committed to the nuclear accord but have struggled to devise a mechanism that wouldn’t expose European companies to penalties if they trade with the Islamic Republic.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday urged the world to address what he called Iran’s nuclear “extortion.”

Safeguards Obligations

The IAEA has satellite images showing that the Turquz-Abad site where the particles were found was cleared out after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented documents that Mossad spies smuggled out of a secret warehouse in Tehran. Those files allegedly show Iran lied about a weapons project that operated until 2003, and then intensified efforts to hide its atomic archive after agreeing to the 2015 nuclear accord. Iran denies its nuclear program is aimed at producing weapons.

The U.S. is expected to press European allies that remain committed to the pact to support authorizing IAEA inspectors to broaden their investigation, according to the diplomats. That effort would be led by Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, who’ll replace Feruta as director general next month.

The suggestion that Iran could be providing incomplete information has potentially serious consequences. The entire international apparatus of rules that the IAEA enforces is based on verifying the correctness and completeness of nations’ declared nuclear material and nuclear-related activities.

The IAEA’s board referred Iran to the United Nations Security Council in 2006 for failing to fulfill safeguards obligations. The council then imposed crippling international sanctions that were only lifted after the 2015 agreement was agreed.

Photo: IAEA

Iran Hopes New UN Nuclear Chief Will Act 'Neutrally'

Iran said Thursday it hopes the UN nuclear watchdog will act “neutrally” under its new head and vowed to maintain cooperation with its inspectors monitoring a landmark 2015 nuclear deal.

Argentina’s Rafael Grossi took the helm of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday following the death of his predecessor, Yukiya Amano of Japan, in July.

The UN agency is tasked with monitoring Tehran’s nuclear activities to assess its compliance with the 2015 agreement with major powers, which has been severely undermined by Washington’s abandonment of it in May last year.

Iran hopes that during Grossi’s tenure, the IAEA “can neutrally and professionally undertake its international responsibilities and sensitive missions,” foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said in a statement.

“Iran is ready to maintain and expand interaction and cooperation with the agency with goodwill and mutual respect,” he added.

Tensions with the United States have escalated sharply since it began reimposing crippling unilateral sanctions lifted under the nuclear deal.

The European parties to the deal—Britain, France and Germany—have repeatedly said they are committed to saving the accord, but their efforts have so far borne little fruit.

Tehran has hit back by suspending its compliance with parts of the deal until sanctions relief is restored.

“The path for diplomacy is open… the Europeans and especially the French are still trying to act on their commitments,” Mousavi told state television.

Yet the attempts have so far “failed to reach any tangible results” and “if the situation goes on as it is, (Iran) will most probably take the fourth step,” he added.

Iran has said it will unveil a fourth package of measures on Monday.

Photo: IRNA

Argentina's Grossi Elected Head of UN's Nuclear Watchdog

By Julia Zappei

Argentina's Rafael Grossi was elected on Tuesday to head the UN's nuclear watchdog, which is tasked in particular with monitoring the implementation of the increasingly shaky Iran nuclear deal.

Grossi beat Romanian diplomat Cornel Feruta to become director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) following the death of the former head Yukiya Amano of Japan in July.

The election of Grossi, Argentinia's ambassador to the IAEA, comes at a critical time for the Vienna-based agency as Iran is decreasing its commitments under the 2015 landmark deal.

US President Donald Trump last year withdrew from the agreement and proceeded to re-introduce sanctions, leaving Iran to press the remaining signatories to hold up economic benefits in return for its nuclear programme cutbacks.

Grossi received 24 votes to Feruta's 10 from the IAEA's 35-member Board of Governors in the third official round of voting, reaching the two-thirds majority needed to become the new director general, according to a diplomatic source.

"With Rafael Grossi securing a qualified majority in the board of governors, IAEA has taken a decisive step towards electing its director general," Xavier Sticker, the French ambassador to the United Nations in Vienna, said on Twitter.

An IAEA general conference is expected to approve the board's choice.

Feruta had been the organisation's acting director general since the death of Amano, who had led the agency since 2009.

‘Broker for All'

Grossi, who becomes the first IAEA head from Latin America and is believed to have had the backing of the US, has said he wants to be "an honest broker for all" without a "hidden agenda".

"My approach with Iran will be very firm but very fair," the 58-year-old told AFP in a September interview.

Grossi, a seasoned diplomat, became Argentina's permanent representative to the United Nations in Vienna in 2013.

Prior to that he was at the IAEA from 2010, latterly as the assistant director general for policy and chief of cabinet.

Both Grossi and Feruta had been lobbying strongly for the post with two other contenders—Lassina Zerbo of Burkina Faso and Marta Ziakova of Slovakia—dropping out earlier in the race.

"I think Grossi's style would be to shake things up a little more," one diplomat told AFP ahead of this week's voting, describing the Argentinian as hard-working and engaged.

"You can't fault his work ethic," the diplomat added.

The IAEA is tasked with monitoring Iran's nuclear activities to ensure they abide by the terms of the 2015 deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Tensions have been escalating between Iran and the United States since May last year when Trump pulled out of the nuclear accord and began reimposing sanctions.

The remaining partners in the deal with Iran are Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.

The European parties have repeatedly said they are committed to saving the accord, but their efforts have so far borne little fruit.

Tehran has already hit back three times with countermeasures in response to the US withdrawal from the deal.

On July 1, Iran said it had increased its stockpile of enriched uranium to beyond a 300-kilogramme maximum set by the deal, and a week later it announced it had exceeded a 3.67-percent cap on the purity of its uranium stocks.

In its latest move it fired up advanced centrifuges to boost its enriched uranium stockpiles on September 7.

Photo: Wikicommons

Iran Offered Lesson by Argentine Bid to Head Nuclear Agency

By Jonathan Tirone

Argentine diplomat Rafael Grossi says inspectors monitoring Iran’s nuclear deal could benefit from more openness and suggested his country’s nuclear program holds a lesson for Iranian leaders.

As a top candidate to head the International Atomic Energy Agency, Grossi faces the prospect of walking the tightrope between keeping tabs on Iran and other crises while steering the nominally technical agency through geopolitics.

If elected by member nations, he’s likely to face U.S. and Israeli pressure to open a new investigation based on documents and nuclear material allegedly discovered in a warehouse in Tehran. President Donald Trump accused Iran last month of “secretly” enriching uranium, something international inspectors haven’t reported.

“Uncertainty arises from silence,” Grossi said in an interview, explaining his view that IAEA safeguards inspectors should communicate more clearly. He pledged “firm but fair” monitoring and a “constant dialog” with member governments.

The agency is in transition after Director General Yukiya Amano died in July, just weeks after inspectors said Iran surpassed limits on its enriched-uranium stockpile set in a 2015 agreement. European governments, Russia and China are seeking to salvage the deal after Trump withdrew the U.S. in 2018.

The next director will wade into some of the thorniest terrain in global relations. The IAEA won a Nobel Peace Prize for debunking false intelligence that led up to the 2003 war in Iraq. Later, it was thrust into disputes in Syria and North Korea as well as international concern over nuclear safety after the Fukushima reactor meltdowns in Japan in 2011.

For its part, Argentina has spent decades building a nuclear industry even as boom-and-bust cycles roiled its economy, triggering a record $56 billion bailout by the International Monetary Fund. That has included supplying Iran’s research reactor with nuclear fuel and training Iranian scientists in what Grossi called a close but complex relationship.

“Playing by the rules has enabled our industry’s development,” Grossi said. “We’ve proven you can be a middle-sized nation with nuclear power and returns on technology research.”

Grossi, Argentina’s ambassador to the IAEA, was Amano’s deputy at the height of the Iran investigation, traveling to Tehran as part of a team that published a report in November 2011 that detailed Iran’s past nuclear-military activities.

His candidacy has won backing from Brazil, a Latin American ally and member of the agency’s board of governors. A new director general is expected to be named by October. Other contenders, probably including acting director Cornel Feruta, are expected to join the race in early September.

Falklands Effect

How Argentina came to do nuclear business with Iran is a story tied to the tides of geopolitics.

Argentina’s nuclear program languished from a lack of funding under military dictators in the 1970s and 1980s. When the junta fell and democratic rule took hold in the wake of Argentina’s defeat in the Falklands War, its scientists focused on developing expertise in research reactors and fuel, rather than immediately building up industrial-scale uranium enrichment.

Other clients of state-run INVAP SE include Australia, India, the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia. The Bariloche-based conglomerate has used its position as a maker of research reactors and nuclear technology to expand into aerospace and defense. Its 1,400 employees generated orders worth $918 million, according to the latest annual report.

Argentina’s decision to turn its nuclear program over to professionals in its National Atomic Energy Commission helped insulate it against “its often turbulent politics,” Jacques Hymans, a University of Southern California professor who has studied the history, said by email.

“Argentina’s nuclear program became not just a domestic success, but an international one as well,” Hymans said.

Photo: IRNA