“IAEA inspectors are looking for a way to better monitor Iran’s nuclear program”

International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors are trying to devise a contingency plan to address the lack of information about Iran's nuclear activities if Iran and world powers fail to reach an agreement on its nuclear program.

Officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna are preparing a quarterly security report on Iran's nuclear activities, which is due to be presented to a meeting of diplomats in Vienna next month.

Since the Islamic Consultative Assembly imposed restrictions on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s monitoring of Iran’s nuclear activities in early 2021 in response to US sanctions, IAEA monitors have had difficulty assessing the extent of these activities. Iran is said to soon be acquiring enriched uranium capable of making a nuclear warhead.

According to Bloomberg, diplomats in the Austrian capital say that in the current situation, the international agency could try to reach a new agreement with Iran and specify the number of inspections at uranium enrichment sites.

The "Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement," or the Additional Protocol, which Iran has committed itself to implementing before the International Atomic Energy Agency, requires countries to allow for additional inspections if their nuclear activity exceeds permitted limits.

Bloomberg, citing two officials familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity, wrote that Iran clearly violated the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement when it decided to increase its uranium enrichment concentration beyond the limit permitted in the JCPOA to the point of being capable of producing a nuclear warhead.

The international agency's information department declined to respond to Bloomberg's emailed question on this matter and did not want to make public "confidential correspondence with the agency's member states."

The two officials added that although the change in security safeguards is not consistent with inspectors' monitoring under the JCPOA, more inspections of Iran's nuclear sites could help address concerns about the possibility of using enriched uranium for military purposes.

Source: DW