Latest Agency Report on Iran's Compliance with the JCPOA

About five months have passed since the implementation of the nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group. An agreement in which Tehran committed to impose restrictions on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of nuclear sanctions against Iran. In this context, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is responsible for monitoring Iran's compliance with its commitments, and in its latest report, it states that Iran has so far adhered to these commitments. The IAEA's quarterly meeting in Vienna has not yet been held, but as in previous years, international news agencies have obtained a copy of the Director General's report, which mentions Iran's compliance with its commitments. According to reports, Iran has kept its enriched uranium stockpile below 300 kilograms, as committed in the JCPOA, and its heavy water stockpile has also been maintained below the permitted level of 130 tons. The issue of heavy water stockpiles has made headlines recently. Following the implementation of the JCPOA and the agreement with six countries, Iran sold 32 tons of this stock to the United States. However, American lawmakers strongly opposed this. Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives once again prohibited the purchase of heavy water from Iran. This proposal, which had previously gone to the Senate and failed to pass, must now be approved by the Senate and also requires the President's approval. In response to this decision in Iran, on Thursday night, Abbas Araghchi, head of the JCPOA Implementation Follow-up Committee, stated: 'The fact that the U.S. does not buy heavy water from Iran could lead to an increase in Iran's reserves, which is something they themselves wanted to avoid. In fact, Congress is acting against its own interests.' According to Araghchi, this resolution is of no importance to Iran, and Tehran will continue to produce heavy water, offering its surplus for sale, stating, 'If they want to buy, they can; if they don't want to, they don't have to.' These comments from the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister come as Mark Fitzpatrick, Executive Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Washington, tells Radio Farda: 'Iran has kept its heavy water levels within the permitted limits because it has exported its excess heavy water stock. The U.S. volunteered to buy these materials so that Iran could remain compliant with the JCPOA, but this issue has turned into a political matter in the U.S., raising questions from critics of the agreement about why Iran even needs to produce heavy water, given that it has enough for its redesigned reactor. I think this is a legitimate question because Iran does not need to continue producing heavy water, and if it continues and exceeds the permitted level, which country other than the U.S. would buy it?' According to Abbas Araghchi on Thursday, Tehran is negotiating to sell 40 tons of heavy water to another country, but he did not mention the name of that country. Fitzpatrick in the U.S. believes there are not many actual buyers for heavy water and states: 'Heavy water can be used in small quantities for various industrial applications; I don't know which country needs to buy heavy water, but countries with research reactors like India may need heavy water, although I don't know which country is currently negotiating with Iran on this matter.' The Associated Press highlights another point regarding the Agency's report. The news agency states that one of the issues that could be concerning is that Iran has informed the Agency that it intends to manufacture rotors for its centrifuges, which the news agency says, although Iran is permitted to produce this part of uranium enrichment devices, there are limitations in this area. According to one of the annexes of the JCPOA regarding research and development, 'Iran will only produce centrifuge machines, including rotors suitable for isotope separation or any other part of the centrifuge machine that meets the enrichment and research and development requirements based on the JCPOA.' Mark Fitzpatrick, who previously worked in the U.S. State Department in disarmament, states: 'The concern here is whether Iran actually needs to produce rotors, given that this country has thousands of inactive centrifuges stored away and only about five thousand active centrifuges, and it can use the others for issues like replacing parts and repairs. Of course, Iran has not taken action and has only informed the Agency of its intention, and it is unclear whether this intention is to produce first-generation centrifuge rotors or advanced models for which Iran has accepted strict limitations based on the JCPOA for research and development in that area. Questions surrounding research and development and new rotors are legitimate, but so far Iran has not violated its commitments, and the fact that it has previously informed the Agency of its intentions is an example of transparency.' In the context of implementing the nuclear agreement, Sergei Ryabkov, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, has also stated that Iran and the P5+1 group do not have plans to hold a joint commission meeting at the level of political deputies, as the agreement is being implemented, and these meetings are taking place in Vienna at the expert level and 'intensively.'