The International Atomic Energy Agency has agreed with Iran to monitor nuclear facilities more closely. This was announced by the IAEA and the Iranian nuclear organization AEOI after the meeting. The head of the authorities, Rafael Grossi, had already spoken with the president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, in Tehran.
Grossi: cooperative climate
“There has been a reduction in some surveillance activities, … related to cameras, related to online enrichment mechanisms, related to flow monitoring systems that were not operational and we agreed that they will be back up and running”, said Grossi after meeting with the head of AEOI Mohammad Eslami. Grossi spoke of a cooperative climate.
Iran has moved ahead with enriching uranium to a very high purity of 60%, fueling international concerns that this material could be processed for nuclear weapons. This would require a higher grade of 90 percent.
Monitoring measures should be stricter
More recently, there was a lack of clarity as to whether this figure had not nearly been reached. IAEA experts recently found traces of uranium with a purity of 84% at the Fordow nuclear facility. Since then, the IAEA has tried to clarify whether Iran deliberately reached that level or whether it was an unintended and short-term increase, as Tehran has argued.
In the year 2022, the IAEA had to dismantle cameras and other surveillance equipment in Iran. Grossi announced upon their return from Tehran to Vienna that they were expected to resume operations shortly.