Iran agrees to tighter nuclear surveillance
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The government of Iran has agreed to reinstall cameras and monitoring equipment of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s atomic watchdog, at its nuclear facilities, the Financial Times reports.
The surprise move is the first step towards closer oversight since US President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 international agreement to limit Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities in 2019.
The 2015 agreement, signed together with China, the EU, Germany, Britain, France and Russia limited uranium enrichment to 3.67% in return for sanctions relief. After President Trump withdrew the US from the agreement and issued a new round of crippling sanctions on Iran, its government dismantled most of the IAEA monitoring equipment.
Alarm bells were sounded last week when it was reported that uranium enriched to up to 84% was found at Iranian facilities. For weaponization, uranium needs to be enriched to 90% purity.
The IAEA’s top man, Rafael Mariano Grossi, travelled to Tehran this week, where he announced that Iran’s government had agreed to tighter monitoring. A “marked improvement, at least in terms of my dialogue with the Iranian government, has been registered,” Grossi said after the two-day trip.
The IAEA director added that his agency had “information on a certain level of enrichment, in a certain facility. After taking some samples we see a peak, sometimes in this type of facilities there can be oscillations or peaks that can be accidental or limited in time, but it can be otherwise.”
President Joe Biden, after taking office in 2021, had given signs of wanting to renew the Iran nuclear treaty. However, popular protests in Iran, Tehran’s supply of weapons to Russia, and Israel’s increased belligerence against the country have soured the mood for dialogue.