No Deadline to Implement IAEA Agreement – Iran

Iran Hesitant on Full Implementation Before Striking Final Deal with P5+1 

Iran said today it had not agreed with IAEA on a deadline to provide answers on its alleged experimentations with detonators believed to be used to trigger explosion in a nuclear device. On Friday, IAEA said Iran had indeed agreed to a 25 August deadline for providing the information.

“Iran has implemented one of the five practical measures that it agreed with the Agency in May 2014 in the third step of the Framework for Cooperation by the agreed deadline of 25 August 2014; implemented two of the measures after the deadline; and begun discussions with the Agency on the other two practical measure.” (IAEA report, 5 September)

Behzad Kamalvandi, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said IAEA was aware that implementing all five steps required by the Framework of Cooperation agreement by August 25 was not possible. 

“We do not have any commitment on a date (deadline),” Kamalvandi added. (IRNA, 6 September)

Iran appears to be hesitant to provide full information on its experimentations with Exploding Bridge Wire (EBW) detonators before it is confident that a comprehensive nuclear deal could be struck with P5+1. In absence of such agreement, it would be unlikely that Iran would fully implement the Framework of Cooperation with IAEA. 

Iran Says Nuclear Talks Continue Despite U.S. Blacklist

Iran said today it will keep talking with world powers on implementing the Geneva interim agreement on it nuclear program despite a U.S. move on Thursday to blacklist 19 Iranian companies for evading existing sanctions.

“We are pursuing the negotiations seriously and of course we will give a well-considered, purposeful, smart and proper reaction to any inappropriate and unconstructive move,” Foreign Minister Javad Zarif wrote on his Facebook page.

“The negotiations and achieving a result are a difficult task and will definitely have a lot of ups and downs. We have predicted that from the very beginning,” Zarif continued. (Facebook/AFP, 15 December)

US officials argued blacklisting of the Iranian companies was taken under the existing sanctions regime which are in effect and enforceable during the six-month period of the current agreement, and did not constitute new measures.

Critics argued that it was an unwise move politically, violating the spirit, if not the letter of the Geneva agreement, and playing into the hands of the hard-right inside Iran. In fact, the measures angered Iran and prompted its negotiating team to withdraw from the technical talks in Vienna that were to draw the roadmap for implementing the Geneva interim agreement. It also have drawn strong criticism in the Islamic Republic.

“The negotiating team has a more important responsibility,” Zarif said. “It is ready to remain silent against unjust and unfair accusations (from critics inside Iran) for the sake of national interests, but will answer to all the criticism and ambiguity at the right time.”

Meanwhile, Russia expressed its deep concerns over U.S. blacklisting of the Iranian companies. It warned today that expanding the sanctions blacklist could seriously complicate the deal's implementation.

“The U.S. administration's decision goes against the spirit of this document,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. “Widening American 'blacklists' could seriously complicate the fulfillment of the Geneva agreement, which proposes easing sanctions pressure.” (The Moscow times, 15 December)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he expected the Vienna implementation talks to resume in the coming days. The Iranian delegation walked out of the talks on Thursday night, hours after the U.S. announced the expansion of its blacklist.

“We have been hard at it in Vienna … we are making progress but I think that they are at a point in those talks where folks feel a need to consult and take a moment,” said Kerry during a visit to Israel.

“There is every expectation that the talks are going to continue in the next few days and that we will proceed to the full implementation of that plan,” Kerry added. (AFP, 15 December)

Meanwhile, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) announced today that IAEA will inspect Iran's Gachin Mine in southern Iran soon as part of the interim agreement. (Fars News Agency, 15 December)

File photo: Iran's Arak heavy water IR-40 reactor. Its future will be an important part of a future permanent deal with Iran. (AFP)

Iran Cuts Stockpile of 20% Uranium

Director of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said on Thursday during an interview on state TV that Iran has recently reduced its 240-kilogram stock of 20% uranium to 140 kilograms, a 42% drop, by converting it to fuel rods for a medical research reactor. Salehi added that the rest of the stockpile was being converted as well. (IRIB/AP, 13 September)

The original stock, if it was further enriched to 90% purity, was nearly sufficient to build a nuclear weapon. The conversion of 20% uranium into fuel rod, however, makes it unusable for weaponization purposes. Hence, the move is seen as the strongest signal yet from Tehran that the new government wants to allay fears about the country’s nuclear program.

“Although we know the nuclear case against us is fabricated, we are ready to relieve the other side’s concern,” Salehi said.

Iran's Envoy to IAEA to Leave Post

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to IAEA, will leave his post at the end of this month, he made the announcement today.

“I confirm that my mission, assignment, will be over on September 1,” Ambassador Soltanieh, a nuclear scientist, told Reuters. “I'm proud that I've served my country and I'm grateful for their trust and I will go back home of course to serve my country.” (Reuters, 21 August)

The removal of Soltanieh from his ambassadorial post at the UN nuclear agency could be yet another sign that President Rouhani desires to have a fresh start in negotiations with P5+1 over the country’s nuclear program. 

On Friday, Rouhani removed Fereidoun Abbasi from his post as head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. Former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, regarded to have more flexible approach to Iran's nuclear dispute with the West, replaced Abbasi. Also, Rouhani is expected to remove Saeed Jalili from his post as chief nuclear negotiator at P5+1 talks, and appoints his foreign minister, known for his moderate views on foreign policy, to the job. With that, he will have an all-new and more moderate nuclear team in place.

Soltanieh, who was appointed to his post by former President Ahmadinejad in 2005, was an energetic, skilled and knowledgeable diplomat that often railed against the West in meetings of Vienna-based IAEA Board of Governors. He also led the Iranian team in talks with IEAE's inspection team. No replacement has yet been announced.

IAEA’s own chief nuclear inspector Herman Nackaerts, Soltanieh's counterpart in the talks, is also due to retire next month, meaning both sides would enter new round of discussions with new chief negotiators.

File photo: Iranian Ambassador to IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh (IRNA)

AEOI: Iran May Need 56-Percent Enriched Uranium

Director of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Fereidoun Abbasi said in Tehran today that Iran may need to obtain uranium enriched up to 56 percent, Fars News Agency reported. Abbasi added Iran has no current plan to enrich beyond 20 percent, “but in some special cases like ship and submarines, where we must manufacture small engines, it requires fuel enriched up to 56 percent.” (Fars Nrews Agency, 16 April)

This is the first time that an Iranian official discusses the possibility that Iran may need to go beyond the 20-percent enrichment.

Iran Rejects Possibility of Radiation Leak at Bushehr

The Deputy Director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Mohammad Ahmadian, said there was no possibility of radiation leaks at Bushehr nuclear power plant following a 6.3-magnitude earthquake shook southeastern Iran, with its epicenter at 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the reactor.

“Bushehr nuclear power plant has been constructed to withstand an eight Richter magnitude earthquake near the plant,” Ahmadian said. “Bushehr NPP has been designed based on the most advanced and strict international regulations."

Ahmadian made the comments after the GCC called on the IAEA to “send a specialized technical team to inspect the Bushehr nuclear plant and investigate potential damage.”

Russia who built the plant has also assured the international community that the plant is fully compliant with high-level safety standards and IAEA safeguards.

File photo: Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant (Mehdi Ghasemi/ISNA)

Iran Vows to Pursue Uranium Enrichment Program

Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Director Fereidoon Abbasi vowed today that Iran will “decisively” continue uranium enrichment.   

“Despite the sanctions, it is more likely that we will have a considerable growth in the (operation of) centrifuge machines this year and we will continue (uranium) enrichment decisively,” Abbasi said. (IRIB, 28 November)

Abbasi also announced that the work at Arak heavy water reactor is advancing on schedule.

“I determinedly announce that the (work in) the Arak reactor plant is advancing according to the schedule and without any problem,” he said. “All the equipment which are needed for the preparation of the reactor have been purchased from the market." (Mehr News Agency, 28 November)

The semi-official ISNA news agency also reported today that Iran has reloaded fuel in Bushehr nuclear power plant after a temporary removal of it. The IAEA had said in a report that Iran unloaded fuel from the reactor core of Bushehr power plant in October. Abbasi said today that all problems at Bushehr have been resolved and he expects the power reactor to go operational soon. 

Iran Issued False Nuclear Data to Mislead Foreign Intelligence- Official

The director of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Fereydoon Abbasi, wrote in an article published Thursday by pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat that Iran had sometimes provided false information to IAEA to protect its nuclear program from foreign espionage. Abbasi did not specify the nature of the false information. (The New York Times, 21 September)

“We presented false information sometimes in order to protect our nuclear position and our achievements, as there is no other choice but to mislead foreign intelligence,” Abbasi wrote. “Sometimes we present a weakness that we do not in fact really have, and sometimes we appear to have power without having it.”

Iran has also refused IAEA demands to provide unfettered access to its inspectors to investigate suspicions about the existence of of the existence of a nuclear weapons research program.

“Others accuse us, and the agency (IAEA) seeks to establish these accusations, like what happened with the regime of Saddam Hussein, wanting a legal framework by which to isolate Iran and toughen sanctions on it,” Abbasi said.

On Monday, Mr. Abbasi said at an IAEA meeting that the agency had been infiltrated by “terrorists and saboteurs.” He also linked a previously unreported explosion of power lines to the country’s Fordo uranium enrichment facility to information gained by saboteurs through compromised security within the IAEA.

It is still unclear why Iran should admit to having issued false information on its nuclear program during a tense period in its relations with the West and Israel. It could be that some of the information was to come up in the open and Iran wanted to preempt its impact. Very strange nonetheless!