The International Atomic Energy Agency avoids saying Iran has breached the deal. At the same time, it generally only issues such ad hoc reports to member states in the event of a breach. Two diplomats told Reuters what the report described amounted to a fresh breach, Reuters claimed in a Saturday report.
“On 7 April 2021, the Agency verified at the Fuel Plate Fabrication Plant at Esfahan that Iran had dissolved six unirradiated scrap fuel plates for the TRR (Tehran Research Reactor) containing 0.43 kg of uranium enriched up to 20% U-235,” the report said.
“A uranyl nitrate solution was extracted and converted into ammonium uranyl carbonate,” the report said, adding that Iran aimed to process that further to produce molybdenum, which has many civilian uses including in medical imaging.
David Albright, a former UN weapons inspector and a hawk on Iran, claimed the latest breach also raises questions about what major powers excluded from the enriched uranium stockpile.
“Looking back, exempting this near 20% enriched uranium scrap was probably not a good idea,” he said, explaining what scrap means in this case, “When enriched uranium is made into fuel plates, some does not get used, somewhat like batter for a cake.”
The second round of the 18th Joint Commission of the JCPOA was held in Vienna with the participation of the Deputy Foreign Ministers and Political Directors of the Foreign Ministers of Iran, Germany, France, Britain, Russia, China, and Enrique Mora on behalf of Joseph Borrell in order to evaluate the results of the meetings of the working groups in the field of sanctions and nuclear issues.
During the meeting on Friday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Seyed Abbas Araghchi said that lifting all US sanctions imposed in the Trump era is a necessary step to revive the JCPOA.
"The lifting of all US sanctions imposed during the former president is a necessary step to revive the JCPOA, and only after verification of the lifting of these sanctions, Iran is ready to suspend its compensatory measures and return to full implementation of the JCPOA," he highlighted.
RHM/PR