Iran announces official launch of new restrictions on UN nuclear inspections

Iran has officially begun restricting international inspections of its nuclear facilities, Iran’s state TV reported Tuesday.

The state TV report did not provide much detail on confirming that Iran had done well about the threat of reducing cooperation with International Atomic Energy Agency investigators in an attempt to stress on European countries and US President Joe Biden’s administration to lift economic sanctions and repeal the 2015 nuclear deal.

Iran has said it intends to suspend the implementation of the “Additional Protocol,” a secret agreement between Tehran and the IAEA reached as part of the notable nuclear deal that will give better powers to DA inspectors visit nuclear facilities and examine Iran program.

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It is unclear how access will be restricted. Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the IAEA would be barred from accessing its network of surveillance cameras at nuclear sites. Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency, Tehran’s civilian nuclear group, has promised to keep the films for three months, and then hand them over to the IAEA – but only if they get sanctions relief.

US President Donald Trump signs a document reinstating sanctions against Iran after announcing the US withdrawal from Iran’s nuclear deal, in the Diplomatic Reception Room at the House White in Washington, DC, on May 8, 2018. (AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB)

Nearly three years ago, former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled America out of the nuclear deal and imposed sanctions on Iran that has reduced its economy.

To prevent pressure on Biden administration, Iran has announced gradual breaches of the 2015 agreement. Over the past few weeks, Iran has begun enriching uranium up to 20% purity, a technical step away. from weapon level levels. It also spins advanced centrifuges and makes uranium metal, part of a nuclear warhead.

On Monday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced that Iran would stop U.S. pressure over its nuclear program. Khamenei said Iran could enrich uranium up to 60% purity if necessary, but reiterated that the country is banning nuclear weapons. Tehran has long wanted its nuclear program for peaceful purposes, such as power generation and medical research.

“The Zionist international clown has said they will not allow Iran to make nuclear weapons.” First, if we had such a purpose, even the most powerful would not be able to stop us, ”Khamenei wrote on his Twitter account, referring to what appears to be Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The statement came after IAEA Chief Executive Rafael Grossi held final talks in Tehran on Sunday where the two sides signed a temporary technical contract.

This February 20, 2021, photo, IAEA International Atomic Energy Organization Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, right, addresses the study of Iranian atomic group Behrouz Kamalvandi on arrival at Imam Khomeini airport at Tehran, Iran. (Iran Atomic Energy Agency through AP)

They confirmed that Iran will continue to allow UN inspectors access to their nuclear sites – but for three months other non-nuclear sites will be inspected.

Grossi later said a “temporary solution” had been reached with Tehran.

“It simply came to our notice then. However, we were still able to maintain the required level of audit and verification work, ”he said.

Grossi did not provide details of the direct actions that the IAEA would not be able to engage in but confirmed that the number of inspectors in Iran would not be reduced and that a snap investigation could continue under the arrangement. temporary.

However, Iran’s foreign ministry to which Saeed Khatibzadeh said Monday said the talks “have resulted in a very large diplomatic performance and a very important technical performance.”

Khatibzadeh confirmed that the result was “within the framework of parliamentary binding law.”

Iran’s foreign ministry governs Saied Khatibzadeh’s movements at a press conference in Tehran on February 22, 2021 (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran will suspend time for “voluntary disclosure measures” – in particular inspections of non-nuclear sites, including nuclear weapons sites suspected of nuclear-related activity.

Tehran will for “three months record and maintain information on certain activities and surveillance equipment” at such sites, Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency said.

This means that cameras will continue to operate at these sites, “but no images will be provided to the IAEA,” Khatibzadeh said.

If U.S. sanctions are not lifted within three months, the images will be erased, Iran’s atomic group said.

Under the protocol with Iran, the IAEA “collects and analyzes hundreds of thousands of images captured daily by their solemn surveillance cameras,” the agency said in 2017. The agency then also said that they had “put 2,000 tamper-evident seals on nuclear material and equipment.”

According to a report on Friday, IAEA investigators last summer found uranium grains at two Iranian nuclear sites that Iran tried to block access to.

Photo: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visits the Bushehr nuclear power plant just outside Bushehr, Iran, Jan. 13, 2015. (Photo AP / Iran Command Office, Mohammad Berno, file)

Iranian authorities had barred the investigators from reaching the site for seven months before the investigation, and Iranian officials have failed to explain the presence of the uranium, Reuters news agency reported, citing diplomats was familiar with the work of the DA group.

The inspections took place in August and September 2020, the report said. The IAEA keeps its findings confidential and only shares details of the discovery with a few countries.

The Wall Street Journal reported the suspicious findings earlier this month, without acknowledging the material.

A Reuters report did not identify the sites. Earlier reports said one of the sites was in Abadeh, south of Isfahan – a place identified by Netanyahu in September 2019 as the site of a allegedly secret nuclear facility. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons; Netanyahu is convinced that the regime is making a fool of the world, and it is said to have a collection of nuclear documents regarding its fraudulent program, which was extracted from Tehran by the Mossad two years ago, confirming Iran’s doubling.

Netanyahu has reiterated that Israel is willing to work militarily to prevent Iran from acquiring atomic weapons.

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