Amano: Inspections of Iran's Nuclear Facilities Will Continue for Years

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) states that Iran and the major powers will soon resolve the controversy surrounding Tehran's nuclear program through the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but inspections aimed at building trust between the parties will take years. Yukiya Amano mentioned to the German news agency that the work of the agency's inspectors to monitor Iran's nuclear facilities under the JCPOA has not yet begun. The JCPOA allows the agency to conduct surprise inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities under the Additional Protocol. Tehran has started collecting centrifuges from its facilities, especially in Natanz, weeks ago to reach the implementation date of the JCPOA. Iran's actions must also be approved by the agency's inspectors, after which the U.S., the European Union, and the United Nations will lift crippling sanctions on Iran. However, Amano recently told the German news agency that the implementation of the JCPOA will not stop the thorough inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities. He added, 'These inspections will take many years.' According to the agreement between Iran and six world powers in Vienna, reached on July 14 this year, surprise inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities were agreed upon for a period of 15 years. The Director General of the agency stated that 'this is a very powerful verification tool.' He noted that 'the Iranian nuclear issue has a very complex history and there is no trust in it. They took actions related to the development of nuclear weapons technology before 2003.' The agency announced on December 15 that it had closed the file on Iran's past nuclear activities and is now focused on ensuring that this program does not deviate from peaceful objectives. The agency's inspectors are set to monitor many of Iran's nuclear facilities under the JCPOA, from uranium mines in southern Iran to the Natanz enrichment facility in the central regions of the country. The Director General stated, 'This will be a significant historical challenge for us. Inspectors will be able to quickly track any misuse of nuclear materials for the purpose of building nuclear weapons at any of these facilities.' Amano said, 'If they try to hide something, we will naturally find evidence related to it and will ask them for explanations.' For example, agency inspectors will send uranium samples for testing to a laboratory near Vienna, Austria, to ensure that its concentration is at the level Iran has agreed to in the JCPOA and does not exceed that level. According to the JCPOA, the enrichment level in Iran should not exceed 3.67%. In recent days, Tehran sent over 11 tons of its enriched uranium to Russia and received more than 200 tons of yellowcake in return. According to the German news agency, extensive inspections require sufficient funding and human resources. The agency stated that it needs 9.2 million euros annually for its activities related to the implementation of the JCPOA, which is equivalent to seven percent of the agency's total annual inspection budget, but Amano says, 'We still do not have this amount available.' The JCPOA is expected to be implemented in January, and international sanctions against Tehran will also be lifted.