IAEA inspected one of two sites agreed with Iran: Report

The IAEA inspected one of the sites and took environmental samples there, one of the two reports obtained by Reuters said, referring to samples aimed at detecting traces of nuclear material that may have been present.

The agency's inspectors will visit the other site "later in September 2020 on a date already agreed with Iran, to take environmental samples", the report said.

The IAEA’s confidential document distributed to member countries also reported that Iran as of Aug. 25 had stockpiled 2,105.4 kilograms (2.32 tons) of low-enriched uranium, up from 1,571.6 kilograms (1.73 tons) last reported on May 20, AP reported.

Iran signed the nuclear deal in 2015 with the United States, Germany, France, Britain, China and Russia. Known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

The IAEA reported that Iran has been continuing to enrich uranium to a purity of up to 4.5%, higher than the 3.67% allowed under the JCPOA. It says Iran’s stockpiles of heavy water has decreased and is now back within the JCPOA limits.

Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China – plus Germany signed the JCPOA on July 14, 2015 and started implementing it on January 16, 2016.

Under the deal, Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions.

However, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the international nuclear deal in 2018 and stepped up sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Since May, Iran has rowed back on its nuclear commitments five times in compliance with articles 26 and 36 of the JCPOA.

Iran says its reciprocal measures will be reversible as soon as Europe finds practical ways to shield the Iranian economy from unilateral US sanctions, which were imposed in 2018 when Washington withdrew from the nuclear deal.

The European signatories to the JCPOA have so far failed to uphold their commitments. They have expressed vocal support for the deal, but failed to provide meaningful economic incentives as required under the nuclear agreement.

The IAEA’s report on Friday came after the IAEA’s chief Rafael Grossi visited Tehran last week and held talks with Iranian officials, during which both sides agreed to expand their cooperation. 

At the end of the two-day trip, Iran and the UN agency issued a joint statement on agreements and the results of high-level talks between the two sides.

According to the statement filed on the website of the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Islamic Republic of Iran "agreed to further reinforce their cooperation and enhance mutual trust" to facilitate the full implementation of Iran’s Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement (CSA) and the Additional Protocol (AP) thereto, which is provisionally applied by Iran since January 16, 2016.

"After intensive bilateral consultations, Iran and the IAEA reached an agreement on the resolution of the safeguards implementation issues specified by the IAEA, in good faith. In this regard, Iran is voluntarily providing the IAEA with access to the two locations specified by the IAEA and facilitating the IAEA verification activities to resolve these issues," the statement said.

The statement said the Agency's verification activities shall be carried out in accordance with the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement and the Additional Protocol and the Agency's standard verification practice as implemented for all states with Safeguard Agreements and Additional Protocols "on equal basis and without discrimination."

In the context of Resolution GOV / 2015/72, adopted by the Board of Governors on December 15, 2015, "the IAEA and Iran recognize that these safeguards implementation issues are exclusively related to nuclear material and activities subject to safeguards under the CSA and the AP."

In the present context and based on the analysis of information available to the Agency, the statement said "the IAEA does not have further questions to Iran and further requests for access to locations other than those declared by Iran under its CSA and AP."

Source: Iran Daily