IAEA Report on Iran Related to New Centrifuges in Natanz: Envoy

Following the Iranian president’s Thursday announcement that the country would abandon all commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in the field of nuclear research and development, the IAEA acting director general announced, in a report to the IAEA members, that Iran informed the agency on Saturday, September 7, about plans to install additional advanced centrifuges at the Natanz fuel enrichment plant and test them with natural uranium, Kazem Gharibabadi said on Monday.

According to the IAEA report, the agency on Sunday verified that 22 IR-4 centrifuges, one IR-5 centrifuge and 30 IR-6 centrifuges, as well as three IR-6s, were either installed or being installed, the diplomat noted.

Tehran has scaled back its nuclear commitments three times in compliance with articles 26 and 36 of the 2015 deal, after the US scrapped the agreement in May 2018 and the European parties (the UK, France, and Germany) failed to ensure Iran’s economic interests.

Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, US, Britain, France, and Germany) on July 14, 2015, reached a conclusion over the text of the JCPOA.

The accord took effect in January 2016 and was supposed to terminate all nuclear-related sanctions against Iran all at once, but its implementation was hampered by the US policies and its eventual withdrawal from the deal.

On May 8, 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the nuclear accord.

Following the US withdrawal, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the deal.

However, the EU’s failure to ensure Iran’s economic interests forced Tehran to stop honoring certain commitments, including an unlimited rise in the stockpile of enriched uranium.

Since Thursday, Iran has suspended all of its commitments regarding the nuclear research and development under the JCPOA for the third step.