A positive and constructive meeting took place this weekend in Tehran with the aim to strengthen the IAEA’s indispensable nuclear verification work in Iran, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi told the IAEA Board of Governors this morning. Opening the regular, quarterly session of the 35-member Board, Mr Grossi outlined the recent safeguards developments in Iran and in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and spoke about numerous IAEA peaceful nuclear applications and programmes.
Mr Grossi updated the Board on his meeting yesterday with Vice-President and Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami. They agreed that IAEA inspectors will now be able to service the Agency’s monitoring and surveillance equipment in Iran and replace their storage media, Mr Grossi said. This storage media will be kept in Iran under seals of both the IAEA and the AEOI. Read more in this Joint Statement.
They also agreed to a meeting between Mr Eslami and Mr Grossi on the sidelines of next week’s IAEA General Conference, and a near future visit by Mr Grossi to Tehran to hold high-level consultations with Iranian officials to enhance cooperation between Iran and the IAEA in different fields, and to discuss current issues of mutual interest.
Up until 23 February 2021, the IAEA had verified and monitored Iran’s implementation of its nuclear-related commitments under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), sometimes referred to as the ‘Iran nuclear deal’. Since February, however, monitoring activities have been undermined by Iran’s decision to stop implementing its nuclear-related commitments under the JCPOA.
Mr Grossi noted that the IAEA’s ability to maintain ‘continuity of knowledge’ — an unbroken record of monitoring activities — in Iran had declined over time and said that during his trip the Iranian government and the IAEA agreed that the inspectors will in a few days again have the necessary access to all monitoring equipment and that the equipment at one facility will be replaced.
Indicating that nuclear material had been present at undeclared locations in Iran and explaining that the current location of this nuclear material remains unknown to the IAEA, Mr Grossi called on Iran’s Government to clarify the IAEA’s questions and resolve outstanding issues without further delay.
“I remain deeply concerned that nuclear material has been present at undeclared locations in Iran and that the current locations of this nuclear material are not known to the Agency,” Mr Grossi told the Board. “And I am increasingly concerned that, even after some two years, the safeguards issues outlined above in relation to the four locations in Iran not declared to the Agency, remain unresolved.”
Mr Grossi also asked Iran to fulfil its legal obligations under the Subsidiary Arrangements to its Safeguards Agreement. He said he hoped that “through a direct, cooperative and productive dialogue with the new Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran these urgent matters can be addressed.”
