Iran has yet to allow international inspectors access to nuclear sites bombed by Israeli and U.S. forces in June, according to a new confidential International Atomic Energy Agency report to member states, excerpts of which were published by Reuters on Wednesday.
“The Agency’s lack of access to this nuclear material in Iran for five months means that its verification ... is long overdue,” according to the report.
“It is critical that the Agency is able to verify the inventories of previously declared nuclear material in Iran as soon as possible in order to allay its concerns ... regarding the possible diversion of declared nuclear material from peaceful use,” the IAEA report continued.
Tehran is required under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to submit a detailed report on these facilities “without delay,” but has yet to comply, preventing IAEA inspectors from resuming visits.
Before the bombing, Iran possessed 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%, a quantity the IAEA says is potentially enough for 10 nuclear bombs if further refined.
The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said on Oct. 20 that the Islamic Republic had cancelled its inspection agreement with the IAEA.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference in Iraq, Ali Larijani said that his country had followed through on the Iranian foreign minister’s threat to break off cooperation with the IAEA if nuclear “snapback” sanctions were reimposed.
“Our foreign minister announced after the Cairo meeting that if the trigger mechanism is activated, the negotiations will be considered null and void,” Larijani said, per the Islamic Republic News Agency. “If the agency has a request in this regard, it should submit it to the secretariat of the supreme national security council so that it can be reviewed.”
In September, Iran and the IAEA agreed at a meeting in Cairo to resume nuclear inspections in Iran, including at sites that the United States and Israel bombed during the 12-day war in June.
Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, said that agreement would be cancelled if France, Germany and the United Kingdom implemented snapback sanctions against Iran at the U.N. Security Council under resolution 2231, which formalized the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal.
The three countries initiated the sanctions in August citing Iran’s failure to comply with the terms of the deal, and U.N. nuclear sanctions on Iran were reimposed in late September.
