According to IRNA, the Troika in a statement on Wednesday, copy of which, was published on the British Foreign Ministry's website demanded the IAEA’s Director General continuously inform the Board of Governors on the status of Iran's nuclear program and make the agency’s report public.
The call is unusual since the IAEA chief in every three months, that is, on the eve of the quarterly meetings of the 35-member Board of Governors, publishes two reports on Iran's nuclear activities under the titles "NPT Safeguards Agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran" and "Monitoring and Verification in the Islamic Republic of Iran in light of UN Security Council Resolution 2231 (2015)".
Despite the confidential nature of these documents, every time they are leaked to the Western media with the aim of creating vicious atmosphere against Iran ahead of the meeting of the Board of Governors. Iran has repeatedly protested this issue and demanded that the agency pay serious attention to its fundamental responsibility in protecting the confidential informations.
Two years ago, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi expressed regret over the leak of the agency’s reports at the London Chatham House think tank meeting but acknowledged that the IAEA lacks means to control and prevent recurrence.
In response to IRNA, Grossi described "controlling the flow of information" by the agency as "challenging" and "impossible", but clarified: "We are worried, we prepare these reports for the Board of Governors and what happens after that can be unfortunate."
Meanwhile, the European Troika, in its latest statement, once again came up with a host of allegations against Iran’s nuclear program, almost repeating their past claims.
Without mentioning which country is to blame for falling to implement the 2015 nuclear deal or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCOA), the statement pointed to Iran's compensatory measures, saying it has continued to enrich uranium far beyond its commitments “violating all JCPOA limits on both enrichment and accumulation of enriched uranium. Its stockpile of high enriched uranium up to 60 % has continued to grow significantly, without any credible civilian justification”.
“Over the last three months, Iran has also substantially expanded its overall production capacity by installing and operating new advanced centrifuges”, the statement said, adding that Iran has significantly increased its overall production capacity by installing new advanced centrifuges in the past three months and the IAEA Director General also “reported that Iran undertook some construction work at the Khondab Heavy Water Research Center, without communicating all the needed information to the Agency”.
We also recall previous IAEA reports of Iran's uranium metal-related work. The production of Uranium metal is a key step in the development of a nuclear weapon and we urge Iran not to undertake this work again, they said in the statement.
Obstructing the IAEA, hindering effective JCPOA verification and monitoring for more than three and a half years, lack of transparency in relation to the production and inventory of centrifuges, rotors and bellows, heavy water and uranium ore concentrate are other allegations leveled by the Troika.
“Iran refuses to reverse its decision to withdraw the designation of several experienced Agency inspectors. We condemn this decision, which seriously affects the Agency's ability to conduct its verification in Iran, particularly at the enrichment facilities,” they claimed without mentioning that Iran’s move was within the framework of the sovereign rights stipulated in Article 9 of the Comprehensive Safeguard Agreement.
The IAEA in it’s over a dozen reports has verified Iran’s compliance with the 2015 agreement, but non-adherence of the JCPOA by Britain, France, and Germany, along with the United States prompted Tehran to gradually scale down its commitments.
The measures were announced exactly a year after former US President Donald Trump’s Administration withdrew from the JCPOA and re-imposed economic sanctions unilaterally on Tehran.
In 2018, Iran activated the dispute resolution mechanism within the JCPOA joint commission at the level of the foreign ministers of the remaining signatories. As a result, the JCPOA member parties issued a statement and made 11 commitments to compensate for the economic damages caused by the unilateral action of the United States.
After taking office in January 2021, the Democratic administration under Joe Biden condemned the unilateral action by its predecessor, but it too continued with the so-called maximum pressure policies against Iran coined by Trump.
Iran has time and again said its measures are reversible if the other parties, including the US abide by the JCPOA clauses.
The restoration of the agreement is conditional on the return of the other parties within the framework of the JCPOA and the agreement can be restored when the other parties return to their obligations, Nasser Kanani, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated in this context.
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