Diplomats claim Iran prevented inspection of one of its key uranium enrichment plants, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Nuclear inspectors are said to have been denied access from the Natanz uranium enrichment plant due to alleged security concerns. Iran believes the Israelis attacked the site in April, The Jerusalem Post reported. The nuclear agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is under the umbrella of the United Nations and serves to monitor global nuclear activities.
In April, an explosion and subsequent power outage damaged centrifuges in the massive Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) that serves as the center of Iran’s uranium enrichment program, The Jerusalem Post noted.
“Because of the accident/sabotage in April, certain accesses have been limited for safety and security reasons,” a diplomat working out of Vienna, Switzerland, told The Jerusalem Post. The diplomat also claimed that Iran’s actions “had very little impact on the agency’s ability to carry out verification.”
Some believed Iran has been enriching uranium nearly to weapons-grade and violating other provisions of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to provoke the West. (RELATED: U.N. Watchdog Confirms Iran Is Making Enriched Uranium)
“They are provoking us,” an anonymous diplomat who has knowledge of IAEA developments told The Jerusalem Post. Next week, the diplomat believes, inspectors should have access to Natanz and the entire FEP, according to The Jerusalem Post.
The Vienna-based diplomat called the move “very tactical,” because Iran is picking spots to resist nuclear inspections that create frustrations with western nations, but complying in other areas in order to avoid incurring their wrath, The Jerusalem Post reported.
President Joe Biden’s administration was reportedly communicating with Iran about reviving the Iranian Nuclear Deal, but those conversations have since lulled for the time being, according to The Jerusalem Post.
The Vienna-based diplomat also claimed that discussions between the IAEA and the Iranians have taken place “in order to avoid that these limitations become permanent and therefore start eroding the verification capability.”
This is not the first time Iran has resisted inspections of some of its nuclear sites. For example, in 2019, Iran detained an IAEA inspector and seized her travel documents after she was allegedly trying to gain access to Natanz, The Jerusalem Post reported. And in 2020, according to The Jerusalem Post, Iran denied the IAEA access for multiple snap inspections.
