The DA’s nuclear watchdog found uranium fragments at two Iranian sites he surveyed after months of stone walls, diplomats say, and are preparing to question Tehran for what they have not explained, possibly causing trouble for U.S. efforts to revive nuclear diplomacy.
Iran’s discovery and response risks undermining efforts by the new U.S. administration to reverse Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal, abandoned by President Joe Biden, Donald Trump.
Although the sites where the material was believed to have been inactive are believed to have been inactive for nearly two decades, opponents of the nuclear deal, such as Israel, say there is evidence of nuclear or non-nuclear activities. -published shows that Iran has not acted in good faith.
Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Kazem Gharibabadi, declined to comment, as did the IAEA itself.
A Iranian chief executive said: “We have nothing to hide. That is why we have allowed the inspectors to visit these sites.”
Iran has set a date next week for Biden to lift sanctions with Trump, or suspend snap IAEA investigations under the agreement, which lifted sanctions as a reward for loopholes on Iran’s nuclear program. It is also next week when the IAEA is expected to issue a quarterly report on Iran ‘s nuclear activity.
Seven diplomats told Reuters that the group would use that opportunity to question Iran for not explaining to satisfaction how the uranium grains awaken at two unpublished sites. The appeal could come either in the quarterly report or in a further report released on the same day.
U.S. intelligence agencies and the IAEA believe Iran had a secret, coordinated nuclear weapons program that it halted in 2003, which Iran denies. The 2015 nuclear treaty effectively drew a line under that time, but it is still necessary for Iran to provide the IAEA with evidence of unpublished activities or materials.
The material was discovered at IAEA snap checks conducted at both sites in August and September last year, after Iran banned access for seven months.
Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that the radioactive material was found in samples taken by researchers at both sites, although the newspaper did not specify what the material was. ‘ann.
Four diplomats who follow the group’s work closely told Reuters that the material found in these samples was uranium.
Identifying the material as uranium creates a burden on Iran to explain it, because rich uranium can be used in the heart of nuclear weapons. Iran has a duty to account for all uranium so that the IAEA can prove that it is not transferring anything to a weapons program.
Two of the sources said that the uranium found last year was not enriched. Nonetheless, its presence suggests undisclosed nuclear substances or activities at the sites, which Iran had to take to account.
The full decisions of the IAEA are a closely guarded secret within the organization and only a small number of countries have disclosed the details.
Five diplomats said after the IAEA went against Iran with the findings that it gave unsatisfactory responses. Two of them said that Iran told the group that the findings were due to contamination by radioactive equipment transferred there from another site, but the IAEA investigated and the grains at the sites did not match .
One diplomat provided information about the exchanges but the detailed findings did not say that Iran gave “unbelievable answers”, referring to Iran’s response as “normal delay devices”.
The group has said it suspects one of the sites is hosting a uranium conversion operation, a step in processing the material before it was enriched, and the other has been used. for explosion testing.
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Iranian Atomic Energy Agency President Ali-Akbar Salehi and Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi
(Photo: Reuters)
The seven diplomats said they expect the group to call out Iran for failing to explain the findings found at the two sites, as well as failing to explain materials that it was previously found at another site in Tehran, Turqazabad.
Diplomats said it was unclear whether the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors, which will meet a week after the quarterly report, would take action criticizing Iran. Several said the focus was on efforts to save the 2015 contract by bringing Washington back in.