IAEA Begins To Reinstall Cameras At Iran Nuclear Facilities: Grossi
The International Atomic Energy Agency started re-installing the removed surveillance cameras in Iran.
The International Atomic Energy Agency started re-installing the removed surveillance cameras in Iran.
After Western powers introduced a resolution in June 2022 to censure Iran over its nuclear program, Iran turned off a number of nuclear watchdog cameras.
In an interview with PBS NewsHour on Monday, IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said the agency is installing cameras and reconnecting some online monitoring systems.
The IAEA is responsible for monitoring and verifying Iran’s compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, which limited the country’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Iran has been gradually scaling back its commitments under the deal in response to the US withdrawal from the agreement and the re-imposition of sanctions.
The IAEA has been able to continue its monitoring of Iran’s nuclear program through other means, including satellite imagery, but the loss of the cameras raised concerns about the agency’s ability to detect any potential covert activities.
On March 4, 2023, Iran and the IAEA agreed to a new plan to allow the agency to reinstall certain surveillance equipment in the country.
As soon as the agreement was announced, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and IAEA offered different interpretations about what it would include, raising questions about its implementation.
Grossi did not indicate whether Iran would allow the agency to install an online enrichment monitor at Fordow where the agency detected 84 percent enriched uranium in January.
In addition, he did not address whether the IAEA would have access to the recordings made by the cameras or whether Tehran would turn over the data only if the JCPOA was restored.
Reformist daily Shargh wrote in a commentary on April 20 that economic, political and social conditions in Iran are fragile and the three challenges of Iran's involvement in the Ukraine war, differences with International Atomic Agency (IAEA) over "safeguard" issues and the Iranian regime's human rights record cast a shadow of doubt over the future of the nuclear deal (JCPOA).
Media commentator and former diplomat Ali Bigdeli wrote in a commentary in Etemad Online that the revival of the nuclear deal is the prerequisite for maintaining relations with all the of the regional countries. Bigdeli added that "although Saudi Arabia has said that it is prepared to invest in Iran, no investment will be possible without first solving the problem of the JCPOA."
During the past six weeks, media in Tehran have been discussing the implications of Iran's rapprochement with Saudi Arabia on the future of Tehran's foreign policy and developments in West Asia and beyond. The media generally believe that the resumption of ties between Tehran and Riyadh is a prelude to a wider range of developments in Yemen and Syria and will also positively affect ties between Saudi Arabia and Palestinian groups, Shargh wrote.
Shargh newspaper argued that the improved relations with Riyadh can also lead to the mending of Iran's regional ties with countries such as Bahrain, Jordan and Egypt.
However, the significance of the rapprochement with Saudi Arabia has even overshadowed by other issues such as the fate of Iran's nuclear program and Tehran's negotiations with the United States to revive the JCPOA. But a key question is whether Iran now believes it no longer needs to settle its differences with the IAEA and revive the nuclear deal.
The spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry Naser Kanaani has responded to the same question by reiterating that the current government in Iran will not mix the issue of a nuclear agreement with key economic issues or diplomacy in other areas.
Kanaani further said that Tehran will benefit from the rapprochement with Riyadh to serve its interests and enhance its coordination with regional countries and beyond.
Regardless of how consistent the spokesman's statement is with what is taking place on the ground, Shargh noted, that Iran's relations with Saudi Arabia are affected by international developments. Shargh argued in the commentary that Iran cannot ignore the significance of reviving the JCOA in its international relations. If Tehran mends its ties with the big powers, its regional relations will also be put on the right track.
Bigdeli in his commentary maintained that Saudi Arabia's first motivation for the rapprochement with Iran was end the Yemeni crisis. Riyadh needed to end the conflict in Yemen to be able to further major development projects on the shores of the Red Sea. Riyadh also needed security for its $500 billion project to build a new city. Bigdeli added that Riyadh has undertaken to reconstruct Yemen, pay the government employees’ deferred salaries and create a central government in Sana.
For Iran, the benefit was to end it isolation in the region. Nonetheless, Iran is eyeing the diplomatic rather than the economic benefits of the restoration of its ties with Saudi Arabia. Without resolving the JCPOA issue and opening the international banking system shut off by US sanctions, no one can invest in Iran. Bigdeli added that even an interim agreement with the United States will not solve Iran's problems although it may instil hope in Tehran.
Eslami who is the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) addressed the Friday congregation at its traditional venue in Tehran University, trying to portray the country’s nuclear program as a beacon of its scientific achievements and useful for civilian purposes.
Eslami also reiterated a common propaganda point by the Islamic Republic that Western powers do not want Iran and similar countries to gain access to technology, an argument debunked by economic progress China, South Korea, and others have made.
“New technologies are the arena of domination,” Eslami claimed, adding that Iran is being “punished for its progress.”
Anti-regime Iranians know this well and hold the Islamic Republic responsible for their economic pain and the country’s international isolation, as well as lack of freedoms and repression.
Iran’s secret nuclear program was revealed in 2002, followed by international and particularly Western pressure to come clean and accept monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as well as limit the degree of its uranium enrichment to civilian uses.
After years of diplomacy, world powers, including Russia and China, agreed to impose sanctions on Tehran to force it to come to an agreement. In 2015, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was signed between Iran, the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia and China, suspending the sanction in exchange for limiting the nuclear program.
However, in 2018, former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement, criticizing it as a weak deal that would allow Iran to pursue nuclear weapons once the agreement’s sunset clauses kicked in.
Eslami said that despite Western declarations of a desire to return to the JCPOA, “they were not committed to their own rationale and words,” putting Iran in a tough position. “They exceeded in putting pressures,” he added.
The US withdrawal was followed by new American sanctions on Iran’s economy, which began to seriously affect its finances. Tehran announced that it would no longer abide by JCPOA limitations and would increase both the quantity and level of its enrichment. However, once President Joe Biden won the 2020 election and vowed to return to the JCPOA, Tehran announced its decision to increase the enrichment level to 20 and then 60 percent, getting closer to weapons-grade uranium.
Negotiation followed in Vienna from April 2021, but by September 2022 the talks had reached a deadlock. Iran is now accumulating 60-percent uranium, while the US is maintaining the sanctions and saying that Tehran was deceptive during the talks and a return to the JCPOA is no longer on its agenda.
While Eslami in his speech tried to claim that the nuclear program has a useful civilian role, 60-percent enrichment can only have a military purpose – reaching the 90-percent weapons grade level.
The economic cost of the nuclear program has been very high for Iran, keeping economic growth near zero for more than a decade, leading to widespread poverty, antigovernment protests and one of the worst government repressions of the 21st century.
Opponents argue that the government did not need to make the country a hostage to its nuclear program, which has had virtually no economic benefit and only made the people of Iran suffer the price of punishing sanctions.
If the country had been transparent and abided by non-proliferation rules, it could have bought enriched uranium for civilian purposes from other countries. It’s intransigence has led to nothing but global isolation and the suffering of the Iranian people.