Iran Infringing International Impediments, IAEA Inspection Illuminates

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, on Wednesday revealed that Iran has amassed nearly 12 times the amount of enriched uranium it was allowed to hold as part of the 2015 nuclear deal it signed with the US and other countries. The IAEA reported that Iran had also surpassed the uranium purity levels agreed on in the landmark deal, from 3.67% to 4.5%, and if that weren’t enough, is holding nuclear materials at an undeclared site, previously unknown to the UN agency. The 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Acton, was negotiated between Iran and the P5+1 countries, including the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (the US, USSR, China, UK, and France) as well as Germany. According to the IAEA, Tehran had held up its end of the bargain until 2018, when President Donald Trump withdrew from the pact and imposed a strategy of “maximum pressure” sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Since then, Iran has steadily stockpiled enriched uranium and enhanced its nuclear efforts while finally relenting in August to a UN inspection of two agreed-upon facilities.