{"id":236791,"date":"2021-03-25T06:55:06","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T11:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=236791"},"modified":"2023-02-01T05:02:15","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T04:02:15","slug":"longstanding-lack-of-transparency-shows-iran-was-never-committed-to-nuclear-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/nuclear\/longstanding-lack-of-transparency-shows-iran-was-never-committed-to-nuclear-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Longstanding Lack of Transparency Shows Iran Was Never Committed To Nuclear Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"longstanding-lack-of-transparency-shows-iran-was-never-committed-to-nuclear-deal\"<\/p>\n

In a recent interview, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency said in no uncertain terms that Iranian authorities must come clean about past nuclear work that they failed to disclose prior to the 2016 implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. That seven-party agreement was meant to close the file on the possible military dimensions of Iran\u2019s nuclear research and development, but in the rush to conclude negotiations that had also stretched beyond multiple deadlines, the issue was effectively swept under the rug and it was assumed that new restrictions would moot the unanswered questions.<\/p>\n

The obvious problem with this thinking was that there was no way for the international community to be sure that those restrictions were sufficient if there had not been a full account of the activities that needed to be subject to limits. The problem was compounded by the weak inspections regime that was put into place by the JCPOA. Whereas the initial demand from Tehran\u2019s most serious critics was that the IAEA should be given unrestricted access to all sites that come under suspicion of involvement in nuclear work, the actual agreement granted advance access only to the sites that Iran had declared. If any other sites came under suspicion, it would initiate a new process of negotiation, during which time Iran would be free to stall and cover up any incriminating evidence at the site.<\/p>\n

It was not long before the flaws in this arrangement were laid bare. Mere months after the JCPOA went into effect, the IAEA announced that it had found traces of enriched uranium at Iran\u2019s Parchin military base. Satellite images and other intelligence suggested that much more substantial evidence might have been obtained from that site if not for the fact that authorities had completely destroyed buildings and removed a thick layer of topsoil from the entire area. Despite such clear signs that the regime had something highly significant to hide, international inspectors waited patiently to be granted access while Iran no doubt continued efforts to control what they would see.<\/p>\n

\"Satellite
Satellite imagery of the sanitized Parchin Site<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The IAEA and the Western signatories to the nuclear deal should have immediately learned a lesson from this, but instead they have largely permitted the Iranian regime to continue its obstructionist behavior right up to the present day. Tehran has never really provided complete or credible answers about the nature of its work at Parchin. And since then, at least two other sites have been revealed as having been locations for undisclosed nuclear work, which may very well have had military applications.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, at least one of these sites was subject to precisely the same kind of sanitization efforts as had been carried out at Parchin. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI<\/a>) presented its own intelligence at the beginning of March regarding the site in Fars Province called Abadeh. The report explained that in July 2019, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC<\/a>) razed all the buildings at the site and then began removing old soil and bringing in new ground cover as part of an apparent effort to hide trace elements. At the same time, Tehran continued to oppose the IAEA\u2019s efforts to access the site, and it was not until more than a year later \u2013 in August 2020, that the monitoring agency finally investigated this and another suspect site.<\/p>\n

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Iranian opposition reveals new details about Tehran\u2019s illicit nuclear program - March 2, 2021<\/div><\/div>
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