Iran to Allow U.N. Inspections of Previously Blocked Nuclear Sites

[Celerity]

The reversal comes amid a United Nations Security Council split over whether to restore international sanctions against Iran’s economy — and demolish a 2015 accord that limits its nuclear program.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/26/world/middleeast/trump-iran-nuclear-iaea.html


President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, right, meeting with Rafael Grossi, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in Tehran on Wednesday.Credit...Office of the Iranian Presidency, via Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Iran has agreed to let United Nations inspectors into two previously blocked nuclear sites, officials said on Wednesday, reversing itself during an international feud over its nuclear program that has divided world powers and increasingly isolated the United States. In a joint statement, the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran said they had reached a good-faith agreement for the inspections to verify that Tehran’s nuclear program remained peaceful. Iran is “voluntarily providing” access to the sites, the statement said, and the inspections have been scheduled. After what it called “intensive” discussions, the nuclear agency “does not have further questions to Iran,” the statement said.

Just two months ago, the I.A.E.A. had accused Iran of hiding suspected nuclear activity after inspectors were refused access in the two unidentified locations. The agency, which serves as the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, also said Iran had for nearly a year evaded inquiries about its possible undeclared nuclear material and activities. But with the U.N. Security Council split over whether to restore international sanctions against Iran’s economy — and demolish a 2015 accord that limits its nuclear program — Tehran has softened its earlier defiance. President Hassan Rouhani of Iran described relations with the I.A.E.A. as “very good” and said he hoped to increase cooperation with the agency. He said the I.A.E.A. had a “vital responsibility” in helping to keep the 2015 nuclear deal intact.

His comments, as reported by Iranian state media, came after a meeting in Tehran on Wednesday with Rafael Grossi, the I.A.E.A’s director general. Mr. Rouhani also said a vast majority of states on the Security Council continued to support the 2015 accord, and he expressed hope that American “unilateralism” would come to an end, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported. The State Department urged the inspections to be thorough and conducted immediately, given that the I.A.E.A. has yet to be assured that Iran’s nuclear program is compliant with international guidelines. “Access is only the first step,” the department said in a statement. “Iran must provide nothing short of full cooperation, and the I.A.E.A. needs answers to its questions about potential undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran.”

The I.A.E.A. inspections are not part of the 2015 nuclear deal, and the agency will focus only on nuclear material and activities relevant to specific protocols as required by the 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. But the Trump administration had seized on the I.A.E.A’s findings in June as an example of Iran’s nefarious diplomacy. Although the I.A.E.A. did not identify the two sites to be inspected, Israeli intelligence officials have identified one as the Abadeh Nuclear Weapons Development Site. Experiments using conventional explosives are believed to have been conducted there. When inspectors demanded access last year, satellite photographs showed that some buildings had been razed.

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