Vienna, Austria. The U.N. nuclear watchdog issued a confidential report on Friday urging Iran to allow inspections of all its nuclear sites and identifying Isfahan as an area of interest. The report cited a new enrichment plant and near-bomb-grade uranium that was stored there.
Report ahead of IAEA board meeting
The report was sent to members of the International Atomic Energy Agency ahead of a quarterly meeting next week of its 35-country board, amid nuclear talks between the United States and Iran, the latest round of which was held on Thursday with no breakthrough.
Inspections described as urgent
“While the Agency acknowledged that the military attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities had created an unprecedented situation, it is critical for it to conduct verification activities in Iran without any further delay,” the report seen by Reuters said.
Allowing inspections was “indispensable and urgent”, it said. It also said a successful outcome in the U.S.-Iranian negotiations would have a “positive impact on the effective implementation of safeguards in Iran and the resolution of issues described in this report”.
Context of recent strikes and access restrictions
Like previous IAEA reports, it could be used by Washington to support its argument that Tehran has not been transparent about its nuclear activities, at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump has massed forces in the region and threatened new military action.
The United States and Israel bombed Iranian nuclear sites last June, and Iran has since refused to show what happened to its stockpile of highly enriched uranium or allow IAEA inspectors access to sites where enrichment took place.
Uranium stockpile estimates and Isfahan details
The IAEA estimates that Iran had 440.9 kg of uranium enriched to up to 60% before last year’s Israeli-U.S. attacks – enough, if enriched further, for 10 nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick.
The agency and Western powers believe the bulk of that is still intact. Washington wants Tehran to give it up.
The report provided new details about activity at Isfahan, where diplomats have said much of the Islamic Republic’s most highly enriched uranium has been stored in a tunnel complex that appears to have averted destruction last June.
For the first time, the report confirmed that material enriched to up to 20% and 60% had been kept there.
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