The IAEA is continuing to offer misleading reports on Iran’s nuclear program, giving false impressions of rapid growth of the uranium stockpiles built around counting the rate of growth of trivially small segments.
Tuesday’s report both centers on Iran’s 60% enriched uranium stockpile, a stockpile which didn’t even exist at the start of the year but has “quadrupled” since May. The report also complains about the struggles since the expiry of a monitoring agreement with Iran.
In context, Iran had only just started enriching to 60% in May, and Iranian state media self-reported a stockpile of 6.5 kg of it in mid-June. That’s not a lot by any objective measure. Even then, the IAEA estimated the stockpile today at only 10 kg. Claiming it quadrupled is based on going back to the very start of the process to try to make it sound like rapid growth when it is plainly not.
It is also unsurprising when one considers Iran’s civilian program has no direct use for 60% enriched uranium, and is only producing it because parliament told them to as a way of protesting Israeli sabotage attempts. The nuclear program is complying with parliament, but has no reason to stockpile any huge numbers.
The IAEA also complained about the lack of a continued monitoring agreement since the expiration of the last such agreement. They demanded that the situation be “immediately rectified by Iran.”
In practice, Iran has no reason to “rectify” this when they remain under a safeguard agreement and are only not offering special access that they used to offer as part of a purely voluntary deal which has since expired.
Iran noted that they continue to offer sufficient cooperation, and that Iran is under no obligation to keep extending the monitoring deal unilaterally.
Is it just me who remembers that Trump exited the JCPOA in 2018–not Iran? Is it true that the IAEA ignores that another country in the Middle East is armed to the teeth with actual nuclear weapons (50-200 or more)? Does it appear that IAEA “officials” are building a false case against Iran? If the answer to any of the above questions is correct, then the IAEA remains a tool in “regime change” operations–not making the world a safer place.
I totally agree with you. The IAEA, OPCW and the ICC are all tools which the West uses to punish other countries, whilst never having to obey the rules it forces others to abide by.
But Israel & US are allowed under the accepted UN doctrine of “exceptionalism”. Iran et al are not exceptional.
The truth is that no one outside Iran really knows what Iran is doing along these lines.However, to say that Iran has no reason to stockpile,denies the obvious.
That reason being …? I hope you’re not implying the reason is to build nukes. If Iran had wanted them and considered them beneficial to their security, they surely would have followed the time tested path followed by Israel, India, Pakistan, and N Korea and built or acquired a few dozen by now. This is 1945 tech, after all … any country can build these things if they really really want to.
Obviously-to build nukes.Iran has numerous underground facilities, and a strong hatred for Israel. Perhaps sabatage has delayed their nuclear ambitions. 1945 technology won’t allow for miniaturization to place on missiles.
They have thousands of missiles … they could hide the nuclear ones among the conventional and it would be unstoppable w/o miniaturization … this is 1950’s to 60’s tech and they are actually pretty decent at missile tech.
Nope, they are not building nukes, as our own spies owned up to in W’s time.
No logic. The nuke still has to fit on the missile,no matter how many missiles you have.
Right you are, the reasons are obvious. The countries(Israel/US)that are threatening Iran HAVE nukes.
https://news.antiwar.com/2021/09/07/israeli-military-greatly-accelerating-plans-to-attack-iran/
As they should have.
And since “they” are doing all of the threatening, all of the sabotaging and all the assassinations, then Iran too “should have”.
10K at 90% required to even try to start building a bomb, so Iran only has enough raw material for 60% for one nuke.
The IAEA is nothing but Israeli vassal…! Iran should expel all the spy inspector…!
Israel/US vassal. Fixed.
Iran’s Parliament ordered the 60% enrichment for a reason — a protest. Such a protest requires that it be noticed, that those noticing seem to care.
So in that way, the IAEA hysteria serves Iran’s purposes in doing this in the first place.
Of course that creates a danger that the reaction will be crazed instead of calculating. But I am cynical enough to think the Israelis sound crazed as a calculated ploy — they won’t act unless they think they can force others to fight the war they want to start.
The IAEA, which is staffed by bright people, has looked at the suspected facility, and said that there is no “there” there. And if that is what the IAEA is telling the world, I would very much tend to believe them. What Netanyahu and Trump did by calling members of the IAEA, in their inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities, idiots and liers, and members of this organization is neither.