The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement on September 26 that Iran has violated an agreement with the Agency by continuing to block IAEA inspectors from accessing equipment at a centrifuge manufacturing plant in Karaj. The agreement, reached two weeks earlier, would have allowed the IAEA to service monitoring equipment and replace memory cards. According to the IAEA, Iran allowed the Agency access to all necessary sites except the Karaj facility. Iran's ambassador to the IAEA claimed that access to the Karaj site was not part of the agreement. In June, the Karaj complex suffered a possible sabotage event that destroyed an IAEA camera there.
News Briefs
September 26, 2021
-- Reuters
September 22, 2021
Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy chief, met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday. The bilateral meeting happened in lieu of an anticipated larger meeting of all the remaining members of the JCPOA. Borrell stressed the need for Iran to return to negotiations in Vienna, while Amir-Abdollahian said that Iran is willing resume talks "at an early date".
-- Associated Press
September 21, 2021
Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday in a prerecorded video. Raisi stated that the United States must end all sanctions on Iran in order for nuclear negotiations to succeed. He also claimed that nuclear weapons "have no place" in Iran's defensive posture. U.S. President Joe Biden also addressed the assembly in person. Biden stated that the United States was ready to return to compliance with the JCPOA "if Iran does the same."
-- Agence France-Presse
September 16, 2021
Hezbollah delivered over 13,000 gallons of Iranian diesel fuel into Lebanon amidst a severe energy crisis. Iran shipped the fuel via tanker to Syria. It was then loaded onto trucks at the Syrian port of Baniyas and shipped overland to Lebanon. The two-step process was intended to evade enforcement of U.S. sanctions on Iranian energy exports and avoid government-controlled Lebanese ports. Hezbollah claimed that more shipments are on the way and will arrive within weeks.
-- Associated Press
September 15, 2021
Mohammad Eslami, chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), admitted that the AEOI had removed damaged IAEA monitoring equipment at a centrifuge manufacturing site. The site near Karaj had been damaged in an explosion in June, and the IAEA reported in September that one camera was destroyed and the other severely damaged. Eslami claimed that the cameras were unnecessary because other parties to the JCPOA were not complying with the deal.
-- Associated Press
September 14, 2021
Israel's Defense Minister Benny Gantz said last week that Israel would tolerate a U.S.-negotiated nuclear deal with Iran. Previously, Israel had firmly opposed returning to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or a similar framework. However, Gantz also urged the United States to ready a "demonstration of power" if Tehran refuses to make concessions.
-- Foreign Policy
September 14, 2021
German authorities arrested a man on suspicions of using his company to procure items for Iran's nuclear program. The suspect, identified as Alexander J., allegedly purchased several spectrometers and sent them to an EU-sanctioned Iranian individual with known connections to Iran's nuclear enrichment activities. Spectrometers can be used to analyze radioactive material.
-- Deutsche Welle
September 12, 2021
Iran agreed to install new memory cards in International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitoring cameras at its nuclear facilities as a result of negotiations in Tehran between IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi and Atomic Energy Organization of Iran chief Mohammad Eslami. However, Iran will continue to withhold the cameras' recordings from the IAEA, as it has since February. Grossi said that the agreement would ensure "continuity of knowledge" that the IAEA would access if a return to the JCPOA nuclear deal is reached. Eslami said that Iran would take part in the IAEA's upcoming board meeting and continue talks with the Agency there.
-- Associated Press
September 8, 2021
The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet launched a task force incorporating airborne and aquatic drones to counter Iranian attacks on vessels in its area of operations. The drones will monitor maritime activity in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, areas where vessels have been boarded by Iranian forces or have taken damage from mines and other explosions linked to Iran and its proxies.
-- Associated Press
September 7, 2021
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported on September 7 that, since May, Iran has increased its stockpile of 60% highly-enriched uranium (HEU) from 2.4 kilograms to 10 kilograms and its stockpile of 20% HEU from 62.8 kilograms to 84.3 kilograms. The Agency also said that Iran continues to block IAEA inspectors from accessing and servicing monitoring equipment at Iranian nuclear sites, and that some of the monitoring equipment has been destroyed or damaged. As a result, the Agency's ability to monitor Iran's activities is declining. Finally, the Agency reported that outstanding issues related to nuclear material stored at four undeclared sites remain unresolved two years after they were raised by the IAEA.
-- Associated Press