Iran's enriched uranium 16X over its limit: UN watchdog
Lights speckle the Arak heavy-water nuclear facilities, near the central city of Arak, 150 miles (250 kilometers) southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Jan. 15, 2011. (AP Photo/ISNA, Hamid Foroutan, File)


Iran is 16 times over its limit of enriched uranium and it has failed to answer questions about undeclared nuclear activity at multiple sites, separate documents by the United Nations watchdog revealed Monday.

The two reports issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are the first substantive reports since Iran suspended some inspections in February.

Last week, Iran banned the IAEA from accessing its nuclear sites' images before they extended a temporary agreement until June 24, which has allowed many inspections to continue.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi addresses the media at the IAEA headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. (REUTERS)
The report said IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi was "concerned that the technical discussions between the agency and Iran have not yielded the expected results," referring to exchanges on the sites where undeclared nuclear activity may have occurred.

The conclusion comes despite a "proactive and focused effort" launched by the IAEA in April "to break the impasse" over the sites.

The IAEA says that the results of its inspection work have established "a clear indication that nuclear material and/or equipment contaminated by nuclear material has been present" at three undeclared locations, with most of the activity in question dating back to the early 2000s.

The agency also said Iran has failed to answer questions regarding a fourth site where natural uranium may have been present between 2002 and 2003 in the form of a metal disc.

Iran and world powers are engaged in talks in Vienna to rescue the 2015 nuclear deal after former U.S. President Donald Trump walked away from it in 2018 and reimposed crippling sanctions on Tehran.

Trump's successor Joe Biden has signaled his willingness to revive the plan.

For this to happen, the U.S. would need to return to the accord and lift the sanctions reinstated by Trump while Tehran would have to recommit to full compliance with nuclear obligations it progressively withdrew from since 2019.

In a separate report, the IAEA said Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium is around 16 times the limit laid down in the 2015 deal with world powers.

It gave an estimate of a stockpile of 3,241 kilograms (7,145 pounds) but said that it was not able to verify the total.

The limit laid down in the 2015 deal was 300 kilograms of uranium in a particular compound form, the equivalent of 202.8 kilograms of uranium.

A senior diplomat with knowledge of the issue said that while the suspension of some inspections meant that the IAEA could not give precise figures for the stockpile, its level of access to declared sites has not been greatly reduced and its stockpile estimate would still be accurate to within a few percentage points.

The rate of production of enriched uranium has slowed since the last quarterly report from the IAEA in February.

Israeli 'Sabotage'

In April Iran said a "small explosion" had hit its Natanz nuclear facility, an act that Tehran branded "sabotage" and "nuclear terrorism" by its arch-foe Israel.

In Monday's report, the IAEA estimated 62.8 kilograms of the uranium stockpile had been enriched up to 20% and 2.4 kilograms up to 60%.

Under the 2015 deal, the enrichment level was meant to be capped at 3.67%, well below the 90% purity needed for a nuclear weapon.

The latest report will be presented to the IAEA's board of governors next week.

Iran's next president

Talks to restore the 2015 deal are taking place in Vienna as Iran prepares for presidential elections on June 18.

(L to R) Mohsen Rezaei, a former commander of the Revolutionary Guard; Abdolnasser Hemmati, head of the central bank of Iran; Alireza Zakani, a former lawmaker; Mohsen Mehralizadeh, a former provincial governor; Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, deputy Parliament Speaker; Saeed Jalili, former top nuclear negotiator, and Ebrahim Raisi, head of the Judiciary – in this combination of seven photos of approved candidates for the Iranian presidential elections to be held June 18, 2021. (AP Photo)

The press had widely predicted a showdown between ultraconservative judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi and moderate conservative Ali Larijani, a key domestic backer of the 2015 deal.

However, last week Larijani was barred from standing.