Iran has restricted access for UN nuclear inspectors to main uranium enrichment plant

Iran has restricted the access of UN nuclear inspectors to its main uranium enrichment plant in Natanz, citing security concerns after what the regime said was an attack on the site by Israel in April, diplomats said.

the confrontation it’s been going on for weeks and is in the process of being resolved, diplomats say, but has also increased tensions with the West. The indirect talks between Iran and the United States on the reactivation of the nuclear deal they were postponed without a fixed date for their resumption.

Iran’s various measures violate 2015 nuclear deal and they enraged Washington and its allies: from uranium enrichment to near-weaponry to the inability to explain the origin of the uranium particles that the UN nuclear watchdog has found in various undeclared sites.

“They provoke us”said a Western diplomat who closely follows the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), adding that inspectors should be able to have full access next week.

Iranian officials were not immediately available for comment. The IAEA declined to comment., citing their general policy of not commenting on inspection matters.

It is unclear why Iran went beyond the official safety and security concerns it cited as explanations, but it has fought with the IAEA for access before. In 2020, Iran denied the IAEA access to two sites for quick inspections. In 2019, Iran arrested an agency inspector and confiscated his travel documents.

Until now, The IAEA has not reported the issue to its member states and has called an emergency meeting of its Board of Governors made up of 35 countries, as it did in November 2019. when Iran briefly detained the IAEA inspector who diplomats said requested access to Natanz.

An explosion and a power outage in April in Natanz, at the heart of Iran’s uranium enrichment program, appears to have damaged the centrifuges at the underground fuel enrichment plant (FEP). The IAEA’s latest quarterly report on Iran in May showed that its enrichment production had slowed.

“Due to the accident / sabotage in April, some access was restricted for security reasons”said a Vienna-based diplomat, adding that the move “had very little impact on the agency’s ability to carry out checks.”

IAEA and Iran discussed the issue “To prevent these limitations from becoming permanent and therefore starting to erode the ability to verify”added.

Calibrated movement

Washington and its European partners have been pressure Iran for its violations of the agreement, which was based on extending the time Tehran would need to produce a nuclear weapon if it so wished. Iran insists that its nuclear targets are completely peaceful.

Inspections and surveillance have also been in the spotlight in recent times, as Iran curtailed cooperation with the agency in February, removing the legal basis for rapid IAEA inspections of undeclared facilities that had been introduced in the 2015 agreement.

At the same time, Iran has ended IAEA surveillance over certain nuclear activities introduced by the agreement. A temporary agreement with the IAEA has kept this surveillance in a black box under which data continues to be collected, but the IAEA will only have access to it at a later date.

However, this temporary agreement expired last week and The IAEA said Iran did not respond when asked about the status of the agreement., which the IAEA hopes to extend.

The Western diplomat said that Iran had now agreed to grant inspectors full access to the EFF, which is expected to take place next week. Another said the move was carefully calibrated by Iran to create a nuisance without causing a major diplomatic incident.

“The Iranians are very tactical.”, He said.

(With information from Reuters)

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