Germany and other Western countries have protested against the latest restrictions on monitoring Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran’s decision to withdraw accreditation from more experienced inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) undermines the work of the organization, said the representatives of France, Great Britain and the United States as well as the representative of Germany at the IAEA last night in Vienna.
“Iran must immediately reverse the withdrawal of these accreditations and cooperate fully with the Atomic Energy Agency,” they demanded. The senior diplomats pointed out that Iran has owed the IAEA answers for four years about formerly secret nuclear facilities.
IAEA team significantly reduced in size
Tehran informed the IAEA on Saturday that some inspectors would no longer be allowed to work in Iran, after one inspector’s license had already been revoked. This means that the IAEA team monitoring Iran’s nuclear program has been significantly reduced. Tehran’s latest move followed Thursday’s announcement by Germany, France and Britain that they would not lift existing sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.
In a nuclear agreement in 2015, Tehran committed itself to drastically restricting the enrichment of uranium and allowing strict IAEA controls. This was intended to prevent the construction of nuclear weapons. In return, many sanctions against Iran were lifted. Since the US under then-President Donald Trump withdrew from the pact in 2018, Tehran has gradually broken its commitments and, among other things, started producing highly enriched uranium.
