July 2015 Iran nuclear deal: agreement in Vienna. From left to right: Foreign ministers/secretaries of state Wang Yi (China), Laurent Fabius (France), Frank-Walter Steinmeier (Germany), Federica Mogherini (EU), Mohammad Javad Zarif (Iran), Philip Hammond (UK), John Kerry (USA). (Photo: Dragan Tatic, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons)
Iran has stockpiled more than 12 times the amount of enriched uranium permitted by the 2015 nuclear deal, according to the latest report by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The report found that the amount of low-enriched uranium held by Iran has reached 2,442.9kg (5,385.6lb) this month. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action set a limit of 300kg. The IAEA declared that Iran’s explanation for the presence of nuclear material at an undeclared site – which it did not name – was “not credible”. Iran was also accused by the atomic energy watchdog of continuing to enrich uranium to a purity of up to 4.5 percent – far above the threshold of 3.67 percent set out by the 2015 agreement.
The United States pulled out of the JCPOA – which was negotiated between Iran, the US, Russia, China, France, Germany and the UK – in 2018 and the Trump administration has since imposed sweeping sanctions. The other signatories to the agreement have urged Iran to remain in compliance. Former vice-president Joe Biden has said he would rejoin the JCPOA if Iran begins to comply again by its terms. The president-elect has also said he wants to make the deal “stronger and longer”, so that it also addresses Iran’s other “destabilising actions” in the region. The news comes amid reports that, after his defeat, Donald Trump has been weighing striking Iranian nuclear sites.
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