- IAEA Director Rafael Grossi says Iran must provide IAEA with access “commensurate to the extent” of its uranium enrichment program.
- Iran is enriching uranium to up to 60% fissile purity, considerably above the 3.67 percent limit established by the now-broken 2015 agreement.
- Uranium refined to 90% purity is acceptable for nuclear weapons.
The director of the United Nations nuclear watchdog warned on Tuesday, t that “nice words” from Iran are insufficient to satisfy international inspectors, and that he hopes Tehran is ready to be honest about its nuclear program, which is “going very, very fast.”
When asked about the International Atomic Energy Agency’s role in monitoring any revival of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, in which it curtailed its nuclear programme in exchange for economic sanctions relief, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi spoke.
So far, Iran and the US have failed to resurrect the agreement, and Grossi stated that Iran must provide IAEA inspectors access “commensurate to the extent” of its uranium enrichment programme if the agency is to credibly certify that it is peaceful.
“When it comes to nuclear, good words will not do it. What you need to do is to be transparent and compliant and work with us. We are ready and I hope they will be as well,” Grossi told reporters at the United Nations.
“They have a very ambitious nuclear program that needs to be verified in the appropriate way. The program is moving ahead very, very fast and not only ahead, but sideways as well, because it’s growing in ambition and in capacity.”
Then-US President Donald Trump violated the nuclear deal in 2018, reintroducing harsh US sanctions aimed at squeezing Iran’s oil exports and leading Tehran to begin abandoning the agreement’s nuclear restrictions approximately a year later.
On Monday, the head of Iran’s nuclear energy program stated that the country has the technical capabilities to manufacture an atomic bomb but has no plans to do so.
Iran is already enriching uranium to up to 60% fissile purity, considerably above the 3.67 percent limit established by the now-broken 2015 agreement. Uranium refined to 90% purity is acceptable for nuclear weapons.
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