Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an organization affiliated with the United Nations, said on Monday, June 3, that Iran’s enriched uranium stocks, including uranium enriched up to 60 percent, continue to increase.
He made this statement in a speech to members of the IAEA Board of Governors, announcing that this issue has been included in the latest verification and monitoring report on Iran’s nuclear program, which has been made available to the Board members.
The Board of Governors is one of the two policy-making bodies within the IAEA.
Rafael Grossi also stated that Iran has limited the IAEA’s oversight of its nuclear program, resulting in the disruption of the Agency’s information on the production of centrifuges, the number of stored centrifuges, their rotors and blowers, heavy water, and uranium ore concentrate.
He said it has been more than three years since Iran temporarily halted the implementation of the Additional Protocol, and therefore, the IAEA has not been able to have supplementary monitoring access to Iran’s nuclear program for over three years.
Grossi, addressing other challenges the IAEA faces with Iran, stated that there has been no progress in resolving the remaining safeguards issues.
He said that the Iranian government has not provided the IAEA with “credible technical explanations” regarding uranium particles found in Varamin and Turquzabad, nor has it informed the Agency about the current location or locations of nuclear materials or contaminated equipment.
Those uranium particles were of anthropogenic origin, meaning they were not naturally present there. Grossi said that Iran has not yet implemented the modified Code 3.1, as it claims to have suspended its implementation.
This provision requires Iran to provide the IAEA with design information as soon as it decides to construct any nuclear facility. He stated that these unresolved issues must be addressed to enable the IAEA to ensure that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.
He also expressed concern over public statements by Iranian officials regarding the government’s ability to produce nuclear weapons and the potential change in nuclear doctrine, saying that these actions only heighten his concerns about the accuracy and completeness of Iran’s safeguard declarations.
In recent months, Iranian officials have threatened that the government might produce nuclear weapons.
Grossi visited Tehran in early May and met with Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who was then the Iranian Foreign Minister, and Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. He said that during this visit, he presented “several concrete proposals” to reinforce the joint statement issued on March 4, 2023, for increased oversight of Iran’s nuclear program.
However, Grossi expressed deep regret that Iran has not reversed its decision to prevent some of the most experienced IAEA inspectors from entering its nuclear facilities.
He said he still welcomes Iran’s agreement that the March 2024 joint statement continues to provide a framework for cooperation with the IAEA and resolving the remaining issues.
He once again called on the new Iranian government to continue the high-level dialogues and technical exchanges initiated during the May meeting with Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (the Foreign Minister who was killed along with Raisi) and Ali Bagheri Kani, the current Acting Foreign Minister.
