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No decision against Iran - IAEA will lose relevance | Israel today

2020-06-16T14:13:36.083Z


| Political-politicalIf the Governing Council does not act today, the IAEA risks losing its integrity and authority as the global protector of nuclear energy use for peace purposes • UK, France and Germany must stand firmly behind the Atomic Energy Agency • Interpretation Nuclear facility in Iran Photo:  AFP International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chairman on June 5 released a harsh report on Iran and its compl...


If the Governing Council does not act today, the IAEA risks losing its integrity and authority as the global protector of nuclear energy use for peace purposes • UK, France and Germany must stand firmly behind the Atomic Energy Agency • Interpretation

  • Nuclear facility in Iran

    Photo: 

    AFP

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chairman on June 5 released a harsh report on Iran and its compliance with its Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) commitments. As expected, despite last-minute concerns, It was hard and unequivocal. 

The report shows a picture of continuous Iranian activity to interfere with the agency's investigation into the alleged presence of undeclared nuclear materials and activities in a direct connection to nuclear weapons development. 

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At the forthcoming meeting of the Board of Governors of the Agency, which begins today, a decision must be made to find Iran guilty of a clear breach of its commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. 

If the decision does not persuade Tehran to change its course of action and cooperate, the council must contact the UN Security Council for sanctions on Iran.

Iran, the company in the NPT, is subject to an agreement called the CSA - Comprehensive safeguards agreement. It also voluntarily joined the extension protocol to the agreement, called the Additional Protocol (AP). 

These are binding legal agreements, unrelated to the 2015 nuclear deal, that require Tehran to provide complete answers and statements on the production and use of nuclear materials, and to allow immediate and unrestricted access to IAEA testing at any site that the Agency considers appropriate.

A key conclusion to come from the IAEA Director General, Rafael Grossi, is that in January 2020, Tehran refuses to allow the IAEA access to two nuclear sites for which the agency has concerns, and it does not agree to answer questions about a third site. 

The report states explicitly that "for more than four months, Iran has prevented the Agency from accessing the sites, and for close to a year, has declined to enter into substantive discussions to clarify agency questions related to the possibility of unspecified nuclear material and nuclear-related activities in Iran."

Tehran takes time

Furthermore, the report provides new details on the three nuclear sites located on the agency radar. On June 10, the American Research Institute (ISIS) published a detailed report on the three sites from which to study the activities that took place there.

The first site, called Lavizan-Shian, is located at the former headquarters of Iran's nuclear weapons program from before 2003. The IAEA raised many questions about what was done on this site, after studying the material discovered in the Iranian nuclear archive, captured by the institution in 2018. The agency found that in the years 2003-2002, the site may have contained "natural uranium in the form of a metallic disk with indications that it had undergone nuclear weapons development processes." 

Because Iran has demolished and cleaned the site through bulldozers, the IAEA wants to know the current location of all the nuclear materials used on the site. 

The second site is linked to a pilot plant for the production of uranium hexafluoride, called UF6 - a material used to enrich uranium. IAEA asked Iran for explanations of the plant's existence several times in previous years, and although Iran has already demolished most of the structures on the site, IAEA is still requesting access to the site for testing. 

Parts of the uranium hexafluoride were also discovered at another site under investigation by the IAEA, a warehouse in Turkuzabad in the suburbs of Tehran. During the IAA's visit to the site in late 2019, uranium remains were found, despite Iranian attempts to scrub and grind the site,

The third site is located near the town of Abadeh, and according to the IAEA, the site may have been involved in the use and storage of nuclear material. In 2003, the site also conducted conventional explosives related to the development of nuclear weapons. This site also destroyed Iran in the summer of 2019.

An addition to the Iranian troubles appears in a report detailing the agency's interface with representatives of the Iranian regime during the spring, including during the Corona epidemic. 

The agency held several meetings in Tehran to overcome the impasse, but to no avail. The Iranian response was a time-lapse, a call for further clarifications and complaints about "legal uncertainties" about its obligation to cooperate. The agency opposed the Iranian approach, stating that all of its requests were in accordance with the signed agreements. 

A two-thirds majority

Some countries, with an emphasis on Russia, support Iran's evasions on the grounds that the investigation relates to historical actions. But the new information obtained by the IAEA and the agency's clear mandate justify the questions raised by the report, most notably whether activity targeting military nuclear applications has continued, and whether all suspected nuclear materials remain only for civilian uses. 

Iran, on suspicion, continues to demolish sites and move or hide equipment and materials. It is important to understand that, in accordance with the agreements, there is no statute of limitations for investigating the allegations or disproving the suspicions of any undeclared nuclear material.

The IAEA Director General can only get to this point in his investigations, reporting to the Board of Governors of Iran's failure to comply with its obligations. Now is their time to act. 

The Governing Council must support the agency by deciding in a majority of two-thirds of the 35 member states, finding Tehran guilty of violating the NPT's treaty and calling on Iran to cooperate immediately. 

The Council should also call for a special Iranian-focused governors meeting to be set up and a special working group to clarify Iran's non-compliance with the agreements. The council must reject all attempts by Russia and Iran to state that because the current conference is virtual, there is no legal way to vote and make decisions. 

If the Governing Council does not act now and Tehran continues its behavior, the IAEA risks losing its integrity, relevance and authority as the global protector of nuclear energy use only for peace.

Britain, France, and Germany (E3) must stand firm behind the IAEA. Currently they are still on the fence, while on one hand they continue to strongly criticize the US following its exit from the nuclear agreement, and on the other justify the IAEA report on the violations The Iranian NPT Treaty. 

It is important to emphasize that the Iranian violations in question occurred long before the nuclear agreement and are unrelated to it, so the European excuses have no place.

Should the Islamic Republic continue to not cooperate and preserve what appears to be an attempt to hide the past, presumably for the possibility of continuing a covert nuclear weapons program, the Governing Council must redirect the issue to the UN Security Council. JCPOA In addition to all of these, it would be appropriate to impose sanctions to ensure Iran's full compliance with its NPT commitments.

In summary, we should emphasize that the time has come when the world must unite in the face of the threat posed by Iran's nuclear program. It must begin with recognition by the Board of Governors that Tehran's nuclear program is not for peace. Then, the world must demand Iran's full answer to the agency's questions and full compliance.

Brigadier General (res.) Jacob Nagel is a senior Fellow of the Democratic Defense Fund (FDD) and previously served as Prime Minister Netanyahu's National Security Advisor and Head of the National Security Council; 

Andrea Stricker is an FDD Research Fellow

International Atomic Energy Agency

Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2020-06-16

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