Grossi: It is Too Late for the Return of Expelled IAEA Inspectors to Iran

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), despite the international body's pressure on the Islamic Republic to lift the ban on the entry of some expelled inspectors, says this is unlikely. Rafael Grossi stated on Wednesday, September 25, to Reuters, "Unfortunately, it is too late for this." The IAEA described the expulsion of some of its inspectors from Iran last year as "unprecedented" and stated that this action severely undermines the agency's ability to conduct meaningful inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities. In June of this year, 35 members of the IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution against the Islamic Republic, calling for increased cooperation from Iran with the agency and the lifting of the ban on the entry of expelled inspectors. Grossi announced his upcoming trip to Tehran. He mentioned that Iranian officials had said a few months ago they were considering granting permission for the return of the expelled inspectors, but now they state that these inspectors will not be re-added to the list. According to experts cited by Reuters, Iran has expelled all of the agency's specialized inspectors in the field of enrichment, and currently, only one enrichment expert from the IAEA can inspect Iran's facilities. It is not clear whether Grossi will pressure Iranian officials to rectify the current situation during his upcoming visit to Tehran. The report emphasizes the importance of this issue, noting that in January of last year, an IAEA enrichment expert accidentally noticed "very subtle but fundamental changes" in a cascade of centrifuges at Iran's nuclear facility that the Islamic Republic had not reported to the agency. This change led to an increase in uranium enrichment in those centrifuges to nearly 84%, which is very close to the level used in nuclear bombs. According to diplomats cited by Reuters, the inspector who noticed this was a Russian enrichment expert, who was expelled from Iran shortly before other IAEA inspectors. Iran is currently enriching uranium at a level of 60%. According to IAEA standards, Iran's enriched uranium stockpiles, if enriched to 90%, would be sufficient to produce four nuclear bombs. Grossi announced on September 17, after meeting with Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, in Vienna, that he would travel to Tehran soon for "political and technical meetings" with Iranian officials. This comes as about two weeks before this meeting, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization stated, "We have the authority to accept or reject IAEA inspectors."