IAEA alarmed over Iran’s nuclear programme, demands 'clarification'

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reportedly sounded the alarm on Iran’s nuclear programme demanding clarification on failure to provide access to its sites. According to media reports, IAEA authorities had found uranium particles at a site which was not declared by the Iranian authorities.

The UN nuclear watchdog has been overseeing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (2015), commonly known as Iran nuclear deal, and issuing quarterly updates to its member states. After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned about a “secret atomic warehouse”, IAEA came under pubic pressure and inspected the site in February 2019 and reportedly found traces of uranium that Iran has not explained till date.

In December 2019, IAEA Director-General Mariano Grossi had said that the nuclear watchdog will take “firm and fair” approach towards inspection of nuclear facilities in Iran. “An inspector is not a friend. He’s someone who comes and needs to ascertain the facts without bias, without agenda, in an objective and impartial way,” said Grossi.

Seeking access

IAEA is seeking access to sites which has been referred by Israel as the “atomic archive” of information on Iran’s nuclear program. In November 2019, Iran’s nuclear program head Ali Akbar Salehi declared that Tehran had been producing more low-enriched uranium on a daily basis after it restarted an underground lab in Fordow.

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Salehi, who heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), had said that Iran was producing at least 5.5 kilograms of low-enriched uranium, which is almost 12 times what the country had been producing before the underground lab started. Iran had claimed that its nuclear program was for peaceful purposes as it has been facing severe sanctions on the economic front after US President Donald Trump pulled out of the JCPoA.

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Iran’s Supreme Leader had also denied any intention to develop nuclear weapons, however, the situation worsened after the killing of their top military commander Qassem Soleimani in a drone attack by the US troops. In the aftermath of Soleimani’s killing, Iran exited the 2015 nuclear deal and announced to speed up its uranium enrichment programme.

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(With inputs from agencies)