The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog was regularly inspecting Iranian nuclear sites until Israel began its bombing campaign on June 13. The war that followed shut the agency’s inspectors out of them.
Now the watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, is trying to get back in — just when Iran may be moving to kick it out entirely.
Amid simmering tensions with the agency, which some Iranian officials accuse of helping Israel justify its attacks, Iran’s hardliner-dominated parliament voted on Wednesday to “suspend” cooperation with the agency and bar its inspectors from the country, according to state news media. Though the move was so far no more than symbolic — the legislation would need approval from a higher Iranian authority before taking effect — its passage is another show of defiance from Iran.
While it may perhaps a signal that Iran will renew its nuclear ambitions despite the U.S. and Israeli strikes on its facilities, the vote could simply be a tactic to gain leverage in any new negotiations with the Trump administration over its nuclear program.
One of the I.A.E.A.’s main purposes is to monitor nuclear activity in Iran and other countries, including all those who have signed on to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The goal is to keep them from building nuclear weapons. Iran is a party to the treaty, while Israel is not. The I.A.E.A. still has some oversight in Israel, which has not confirmed or denied having nuclear weapons, but is widely believed to have them.
Under its agreement with Iran, the I.A.E.A. is supposed to inspect the nuclear facilities Iran has publicly declared, including those at Natanz and Fordo that the United States bombed over the weekend. Israeli officials say there may be other, secret nuclear sites that Iran has not told the watchdog about.
Rafael Grossi, the director general of the I.A.E.A., told reporters in Vienna on Wednesday morning that he had requested that Iran allow his inspectors back into the sites, but he did not respond to the Iranian parliament’s vote. The watchdog’s inspectors stayed in Iran throughout the war and were ready to return to the sites to verify how much nuclear material Iran had left. The inspectors last checked on the sites a few days before Israeli airstrikes began, the agency said on Tuesday.
But the I.A.E.A.’s relationship with Iran appears to be at a low point. Only a day before Israel began its attack, the agency formally declared that Iran was not complying with its nuclear nonproliferation obligations. It said Iran consistently failed to provide information about undeclared nuclear material and activities at multiple locations.
Iranian officials repeatedly criticized Mr. Grossi during the war, saying that his comments that there was no evidence of a systematic Iranian effort to build nuclear weapons came too late to prevent Israel from seizing on the I.A.E.A. report as it began its attacks.
The watchdog’s access to Iran was at its best after the 2015 deal between Iran and the United States and other Western powers that restricted Iran’s nuclear enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief. As part of the agreement, the agency gained oversight over new parts of Iran’s nuclear program. It was also given the power to carry out snap inspections, visiting sites on short notice, including places that Iran had not said were nuclear facilities.
But Iran gradually rolled back that extra access after President Trump unilaterally pulled out of the nuclear deal in 2018 during his first term, and reimposed heavy sanctions. That prompted Iran not only to restrict I.A.E.A. monitoring of its nuclear activities but also to start enriching uranium past the limits set by the agreement.
The watchdog said in a report in late May that Iran was still cooperating with it and that it was able to mount a “large verification effort,” though it outlined several ways in which it said that cooperation was “less than satisfactory.”
The I.A.E.A. noted in the report that Iran has repeatedly said that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but the agency said that it could not confirm that assertion unless Iran gave it more information and allowed it to monitor more of its activities.
Leily Nikounazar contributed reporting.
Vivian Yee is a Times reporter covering North Africa and the broader Middle East. She is based in Cairo.
The post Tensions Grow Between Iran and the U.N. Nuclear Watchdog appeared first on New York Times.
