IAEA: No More Iran Diversion From Nuclear Deal

EghtesadOnline: Iran has not taken any further steps away from its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers since it renounced last month all restraints imposed by the agreement, the head of the UN nuclear agency said on Wednesday.

News ID: ۷۴۹۶۴۳

08 February 2020

“After the fifth step, there hasn’t been any follow-up,” Rafael Grossi said on his first official visit to Washington since becoming director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency in December, Reuters reported.

“Of course, they continue to enrich,” Financial Tribune quoted him as saying.

Tehran in July began stockpiling more low-enriched uranium than allowed by the nuclear deal in the first of five breaches that it has declared in response to US President Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to pull out of the accord and reimpose harsh sanctions that have strangled Iran’s oil exports, battering its economy.

Iran says it would reverse the cuts in its commitments, which have included enriching uranium to a higher level than set in the agreement and operating prohibited advanced centrifuges, the machines that purify uranium, if the sanctions were removed.

The breaches, which Tehran maintains are authorized under the terms of the deal, were aimed at pressuring European powers to help Iran weather the impact of the US sanctions and perhaps also at pressuring the United States to ease sanctions.

After Iran last month announced it no longer would observe any of the deal’s curbs, Britain, France and Germany triggered the deal’s dispute mechanism, opening the door to a possible reimposition of international sanctions. Russia and China also are parties to the deal.

Grossi said he discussed Iran’s nuclear program on Tuesday with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo but declined to elaborate.

During an appearance at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington on Wednesday, Grossi said the IAEA continues to monitor the Iranian nuclear program.