Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian issued a decree suspending co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian media reported on Wednesday.
On June 25, the country’s parliament approved the suspension of co-operation, the day after the end of Iran’s 12-day war with Israel, which, according to Tel Aviv, was started because of the Islamic republic’s proximity to creating nuclear weapons.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Hamid Reza Haji Babaee subsequently stated that Iran would no longer allow IAEA chief Rafael Grossi to visit its nuclear facilities and would not agree to the installation of video surveillance cameras at these sites.
Grossi noted that Iranian nuclear facilities had been damaged during the conflict, but that Tehran was capable of resuming uranium enrichment within a few months.
Tehran nuclear issue
In 1970, Tehran ratified the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and in 1974 signed a comprehensive agreement on IAEA safeguards, under which the agency collects information on the country’s nuclear facilities, inspects them and, based on this data, confirms the peaceful nature of the nuclear programme. With the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the programme was halted, but development resumed later.
In the 1990s, Iran was accused for the first time of intending to build nuclear weapons. In 2003, the IAEA found evidence of uranium enrichment by the republic; Tehran admitted that it had conducted undeclared activities. An additional protocol to the NPT was then signed, and Iran announced the suspension of its uranium enrichment programme on the recommendation of the IAEA, but resumed it in 2005.
A year later, the agency accused Iran of refusing to co-operate, and the first sanctions were imposed on the country. Later, Tehran and the US attempted to conclude an agreement on the nuclear programme. A document entitled the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, or nuclear deal) was signed in 2015. The agreement provided for the republic to abandon uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
In 2018, the US withdrew from the deal, and a year later, Iran resumed its nuclear development. Since 2021, Tehran has stopped complying with some of its agreements with the IAEA, refusing to allow its staff access to facilities, while at the same time enriching uranium to levels close to weapons grade. Before the start of the 12-day war, the US and Iran held new talks on the nuclear deal, but without success.
