IAEA's Final Report on Iran's Nuclear Past Presented

On Wednesday, December 2, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) presented its final report regarding the potential military dimensions of Iran's past activities. In response to this report, Abbas Araqchi, head of the team monitoring the implementation of the JCPOA, assessed it as a "sign of the peaceful nature of Iran's program." According to the IRNA news agency, Araqchi also stated that "the PMD issue has been resolved" and "now it is the turn of the 1+5 to close the matter in the Board of Governors." The IAEA Director General, Yukiya Amano, in his report on the potential military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program, or "PMD," announced that the Islamic Republic had conducted a range of activities related to the construction of a nuclear explosive device before the end of 2003. According to a report on Wednesday, December 2, from Agence France-Presse, Amano also stated that these activities did not go beyond feasibility studies and scientific research. Based on this report, some of these activities continued until 2009. The IAEA has also confirmed that after 2009, it found no credible evidence of activities related to the development of nuclear weapons in Iran. According to a confidential agreement between Iran and the IAEA, signed under the title "roadmap" on July 14, ambiguities regarding the potential military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program or "PMD" are to be resolved. Abbas Araqchi, a senior member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team, considered the IAEA Director General's report as evidence that "no signs of a nuclear military program or diversion of nuclear materials have been found in Iran." He emphasized that after this report, "it is the turn of the 1+5" to close Iran's case in the IAEA Board of Governors based on the Vienna nuclear agreement. Araqchi stated that the 1+5 countries would present a resolution aimed at closing Iran's case to the IAEA Board within two weeks. In response to the IAEA's report on Iran's actions before 2003, he said that "studies on all dual-use technologies" in Iran were solely for peaceful or conventional purposes. Regarding the claim of the existence of a test chamber in Parchin in 2000 based on satellite images, he stated that the IAEA did not refer to such images when it requested a visit to Parchin in 2004 and 2005. He added: "During the Director General's visit to the site, he saw with his own eyes that there is no chamber, and the IAEA's report shows that the results of the analysis of collected samples did not confirm these claims." According to Araqchi, the IAEA has "implicitly confirmed the fabricated nature" of claims regarding extensive explosive tests in the Marivan region of Iran. In its November 2011 report, the IAEA claimed, based on information provided by a member state of the organization, that Iran had conducted extensive explosive tests in the Marivan region that could be related to bomb-making. In response to this information, Iran told the IAEA Board on November 20, 2014, that such a site in Marivan "does not exist," but at the same time, Iran is willing to "allow a one-time managed access" to this "alleged site." According to reports, the IAEA rejected Iran's invitation on December 11, 2014, stating that this proposal does not alleviate all concerns about Iran's potential extensive explosive tests. Yukiya Amano stated on December 5 that his report on the "PMD" case would not be black and white or absolute. The IAEA's report four years ago, by raising 12 issues, did not rule out the possibility that Iran's nuclear activities at certain times in the past were aimed at acquiring a nuclear bomb. The United States has expressed a desire to conclude Iran's past nuclear activities. However, according to Reuters, a spokesperson for the French Foreign Ministry stated on December 1 that the IAEA must clarify the background of Iran's activities and provide detailed answers to all ambiguities in this regard. If one of the Board members, including France, expresses dissatisfaction with the IAEA's report on Iran's PMD, it could seriously delay the implementation of the final nuclear agreement reached between Iran and world powers in July. Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, and Abbas Araqchi, head of Iran's executive team in the JCPOA, have stated in recent days that if this case is not closed, Iran will not feel obligated to implement the JCPOA.