The European states that are party to the Iran nuclear deal expressed concern about Iran’s advances toward a nuclear weapon, days before International Atomic Energy Agency monitoring of the Iranian nuclear program could expire.
The foreign ministers of France, Germany and the UK, known as the E3, “note with grave concern” the IAEA report disseminated on Monday that Iran produced uranium metal – which can be used to make the core of a nuclear bomb – enriched to 20% for the first time, and increased its production of uranium enriched up to 60%. Experts say Iran has gotten closer to a nuclear weapon than any country that does not have one.
“We reiterate that these are serious violations of Iran’s commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” the E3 said on Thursday, referring to the 2015 nuclear deal. “Both are key steps in the development of a nuclear weapon and Iran has no credible civilian need for either measure. Iran must halt all activities in violation of the JCPOA without delay.”
The E3 said it is even more concerned because “Iran has significantly limited IAEA access through withdrawing from the JCPOA-agreed monitoring agreements and ceasing application of the Additional Protocol.”
The Additional Protocol gave the IAEA greater access to the nuclear program, allowing it to inspect any site in Iran.
However, Iran stopped adhering to it six months ago, and the IAEA reached an understanding to allow more limited and remote monitoring. Every three months, IAEA staff has to enter Iran to change batteries and memory cards on its surveillance cameras. Iran allowed the IAEA to do so in June.
The next deadline is on August 24, and it remains unclear if Iran will permit the UN nuclear agency to access its monitoring equipment and the data it collected.
If Iran blocks the IAEA, it will not have information on the nuclear program, and Iran will be able to hide its progress.
Earlier this year, Iran and the US engaged in six rounds of indirect negotiations in Vienna to return to the JCPOA, which the US left in 2018, opting for a massive sanctions campaign on the Islamic Republic. The deal set limitations on Iran’s nuclear program, which would gradually be lifted and expire in 2030, as would certain sanctions on Iran.
In the negotiations, the US sought a return to the 2015 deal and then to negotiate a “longer and stronger deal,” as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said, and offered to lift all post-2018 sanctions. Iran, however, said it will only return to the original JCPOA, and it seeks guarantees that the US will not leave it again.
Iran has refused to continue talks since June, citing the election of its new President Ebrahim Raisi, a notorious judge who was directly involved in the execution of thousands of dissidents. Raisi is an opponent of JCPOA, and his election calls Iran’s return to the negotiating table into question.
The E3 said that Iran’s strides toward a nuclear weapon are “all the more troubling given the fact talks in Iran have been interrupted upon Tehran’s request for two months now and that Iran has not yet committed to a date for their resumption.
“While refusing to negotiate, Iran is instead establishing facts on the ground, which make a return to the JCPOA more complicated. We urge Iran to return to the negotiations in Vienna as soon as possible with a view to bringing them to a swift, successful conclusion. We have repeatedly stressed that time is on no one’s side.”