Iranian Ambiguity Over Uranium Data Leaves Watchdog Skeptical About Future Intent
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Roshan Amiri
- . September 8, 2022
- . Update: September 27, 2022 1:14 am
In a warning sounded by the United Nations, it has been said that Iran can create a nuclear bomb in three weeks. While the nuclear programme is being streamlined and the agreement is being put into action, the past questions raised about the presence of nuclear material are not being answered.
The IAEA is worried over the ambiguity that Iran is exhibiting about the nature of use of the nuclear material. According to its director general Rafael Grossi was “increasingly concerned that Iran has not engaged with the agency on the outstanding safeguards issues … and, therefore, that there has been no progress toward resolving them.”
According to the watchdog, there is ‘no progress’ in resolving questions over the past presence of nuclear material at undeclared sites. Answers which the IAEA has been demanding off Iran have not been answered. There are three undeclared sights which are a matter of worry.
Grossi urged Iran to “fulfill all its legal obligations” on outstanding questions about the three sites. The agency said Iran’s decision in June to disconnect 27 cameras that monitor its nuclear activities had “detrimental implications for the agency’s ability to provide assurance of the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program.”
The IAEA has reported that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium has increased to about 3940kg, which is over 19 times the limit set out in the accord.
Further, Iranian stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 percent, much closer to the 90-percent threshold required for use in a weapon, is now 55.6 kg. A diplomat in Vienna said that given Iran’s advances in enrichment it would now probably need “three to four weeks to reach the significant amount” needed for a nuclear weapon.
