Iran has agreed to tougher monitoring by the IAEA at its Fordow site dug into a mountain after it greatly accelerated uranium enrichment, the Agency said on Thursday in a report seen by Reuters.
Last week the IAEA reported Iran had multiplied the pace of its enrichment to up to 60% purity at Fordow.
At that time the agency said it would discuss the need for tougher so-called safeguards measures, such as inspections, at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), one of two sites where Iran is enriching to that highest level.
“Iran agreed to the Agency’s request to increase the frequency and intensity of the implementation of safeguards measures at FFEP and is facilitating the implementation of this strengthened safeguards approach,” the IAEA said in Thursday’s confidential report to member states, according to Reuters.
Iran and the world’s major powers signed a nuclear deal known as the JCPOA in 2015. Former US President Donald Trump illegally pulled out of the deal in 2018 while the current US President, Joe Biden, has signaled that he is ready to resurrect the agreement.
Russia, the UK, Germany, China, the US, and France have been in talks with Iran since April 2021 to reinstate the deal.
The talks to salvage the JCPOA kicked off in the Austrian capital of Vienna in April 2021, with the intention of examining Washington’s seriousness in rejoining the deal and removing anti-Iran sanctions.
The negotiations have been at a standstill since August due to Washington’s insistence on its hard-nosed position of not removing all the sanctions that were slapped on the Islamic Republic by the previous US administration. Iran maintains it is necessary for the other side to offer some guarantees that it will remain committed to any agreement that is reached.
MNA