Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile five times higher than nuclear deal cap: UN watchdog

Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Rafael Mariano Grossi from Argentina, addresses the media during a news conference at the International Center in Vienna, Austria, Monday, Feb. 10, 2020.

IAEA says Iran could have at least three undeclared nuclear sites, with Tehran refusing information on those

Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium is five times above the limit set under the 2015 nuclear deal, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Tuesday in a report, as cited by the AFP.

According to the report, as of 19 February 2020 the stockpile stood at 1,510 kg, as opposed to the 300 kg limit of uranium in gas form set under the deal. It is said to have surged to this mark only quite recently, growing almost triple in size over the past three months.

Earlier in the day, head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog sounded the alarm on Iran’s nuclear program and demanded “clarifications” over an undeclared site in Tehran where uranium particles were found late last year.

All in all, Iran could have three undeclared nuclear sites, the report says, as cited by the Associated Press, and it refused to offer any information about those to the watchdog when requested to do so.

The UN watchdog issued a separate quarterly report, scolding Iran over a lack of cooperation with the agency working as a monitor for its commitments under the 2015 accords, with its inspectors said to have been denied access in January to two “sites of interest” for which the “the Agency identified a number of questions related to possible undeclared nuclear material and nuclear-related activities.”

Earlier in February, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Iran could reverse its violations, should it get enough financial incentive to do so from Europe.

In the wake of the US pullout, the EU scrambled to salvage the accord, but also triggered the dispute resolution mechanism under the agreement in mid-January.  

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