Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a law Wednesday suspending the country’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), ending the UN nuclear watchdog’s access to Iranian nuclear sites.
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The law is a response to the Israeli and American airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear program, which were intended to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran has been stockpiling highly enriched uranium since the 2018 American withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an Obama-era deal limiting Iran’s nuclear program. This enriched material affords Iran the capacity to quickly “break through” and easily refine weapons-grade material. Nevertheless, U.S. intelligence reports have consistently found that Iran was not in the process of weaponizing their uranium stockpile.
Iran on Saturday turned down a request from IAEA director Rafael Grossi to visit Iran’s nuclear sites. “Grossi’s insistence on visiting the bombed sites under the pretext of safeguards is meaningless and possibly even malign in intent,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in a post on X Monday.
The suspension puts into question Iran’s compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which requires that IAEA inspectors have access to signatories’ nuclear programs.
