IAEA: Iran must allow inspections, especially of facilities in Isfahan

(Patria) - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released a confidential report yesterday calling on Iran to allow it to inspect all its nuclear facilities, and specifically pointing to Isfahan as a location of interest due to a new uranium enrichment plant and stored uranium enriched close to weapons-grade.

The report was sent to IAEA member states ahead of the quarterly meeting of its 35-nation Board of Governors next week, at a time when nuclear talks between the United States and Iran are underway. The last round of talks was held on Thursday, without progress.

Like previous IAEA reports, this one could be used by Washington as an argument that Tehran has not been transparent about its nuclear activities, at a time when US President Donald Trump has deployed forces to the region and threatened further military action.

The United States and Israel bombed Iranian nuclear sites last June, and Iran has since refused to show what happened to its highly enriched uranium stockpile or allow IAEA inspectors access to sites where enrichment took place.

Although the Agency acknowledged that military attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities created an unprecedented situation, it is crucial that verification activities in Iran be carried out without further delay, according to the report seen by Reuters.

Allowing inspections is necessary and urgent, it states, adding that a successful outcome of the US-Iranian negotiations would have a positive impact on the effective implementation of safeguards in Iran and the resolution of issues described in this report.

The IAEA estimates that Iran had 440.9 kg of uranium enriched to 60% before last year's Israeli-American attacks – enough, if further enriched, for 10 nuclear weapons, according to the IAEA benchmark.

The Agency and Western powers believe most of it remains intact. Washington wants Tehran to abandon it.

The report provided new details about activities in Isfahan, where diplomats said much of the Islamic Republic's most highly enriched uranium was stored in a tunnel complex that appears to have escaped destruction last June.

The report confirmed for the first time that material enriched to 20% and 60% was stored there.

IAEA satellite imagery noted "regular vehicle activity around the entrance to the tunnel complex in Isfahan where uranium enriched to 20% and 60% U-235 was stored," it stated.

It is believed that the US-Israeli attacks destroyed or severely damaged three uranium enrichment sites known to be operating at the time.

Just before Israel launched the attack, Iran said it was setting up a fourth enrichment facility in Isfahan, although the IAEA does not yet know its exact location or whether it is operational, the report states.

There is growing concern that Iran has never allowed the Agency access to its fourth reported uranium enrichment facility since Iran first declared it in June last year, the report adds.