Signatories to Iran’s faltering nuclear deal presented an assembly in Vienna on Tuesday as the United States was trying to reinstate sanctions against the Islamic Republic and widen an arms embargo.
Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia are suffering to save the historic 2015 agreement with Iran, which has been increasing nuclear activities since last year.
Tehran insists that it has the right to do so under the agreement, which exchanged relief from sanctions opposed to the Iran agreement for its nuclear program, after the U.S. withdrawal from the agreement in 2018 and the reimposition of sanctions.
As a component of Tuesday’s talks, Iran’s atomic energy agreed last week to allow UN nuclear surveillance inspectors to enter two sites suspected of harboring undeclared activity in the early 2000s.
Iran agreed to allow international Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to enter two sites suspected of hosting undeclared activities in the early 2000s.Photo: AFP / ALEX HALADA
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) leader Rafael Grossi visited Iran on its first visit since it took over the workplace last year and after months of access calls.
The effects of any visit to the box, however, take 3 months, according to a diplomat familiar with the issue, so “it can be a challenge for the Iranians” if something undeclared and nuclear-related is found.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, made his first trip to Iran last week. Photo: Iranian Presidency / Document
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s ambassador to organizations in Vienna, said on Twitter on Monday that “participants in the nuclear deal have many issues to discuss.”
The assembly is chaired by Helga Schmid, a senior EU official, in the presence of representatives from Britain, China, France, Germany, Iran and Russia.
Mark Fitzpatrick, an associate researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), said last week’s agreement kept “Iran broadly in line with the rest of the world, as opposed to the United States at a distance.”
Last week, the United Nations blocked the U.S. attempt to reimpos and hold back foreign sanctions opposing Iran, while Washington also failed to raise enough to enlarge a arms embargo that was due to expire in October.
But Fitzpatrick said that “Iran’s nuclear activities remain a deep fear for states committed to non-proliferation.”
Iran recently transferred complex centrifuges used to enrich uranium from a pilot facility in a new corridor at its main Natanz nuclear power plant, which was sabotaged in July.
An IAEA assessment published in June said Iran’s enriched uranium stocks are approximately 8 times the limit set in the agreement.
The enrichment point is still well below what would be a nuclear weapon, however, the parties to the EU agreement have suggested iran to comply completely.
The IAEA, which normally updates its members on Iran’s nuclear activities, is expected to submit a new report before a state assembly talks about the dossier earlier this month.