UN watchdog: Access to key Iranian data lacking since Feb 23

VIENNA - The United Nations’ atomic watchdog hasn’t been able to access data important to monitoring Iran’s nuclear program since late February when the Islamic Republic started restricting international inspections of its facilities, the agency said Monday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency reported in a confidential document distributed to member countries and seen by The Associated Press that it has “not had access to the data from its online enrichment monitors and electronic seals, or had access to the measurement recordings registered by its installed measurement devices” since Feb. 23.

While the IAEA and Iran earlier acknowledged the restrictions limited access to surveillance cameras at Iranian facilities, Monday’s report indicated they went much further. The IAEA acknowledged it could only provide an estimate of Iran’s overall nuclear stockpile as it continues to enrich uranium at its highest level ever.

Iran started limiting inspections in a bid to put pressure on the government of U.S. President Joe Biden to lift crippling sanctions reimposed after then President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran unilaterally in 2018.

Under the deal, the IAEA placed around 2,000 tamper-proof seals on nuclear material and equipment. Those seals communicated electronically to inspectors. Automated measuring devices also provided real-time data from the program.

Talks are currently underway in Vienna for the U.S. to rejoin the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

We were having a discussion at the defense plant where I worked regarding inspections. The plant covered about an acre of ground, with plenty of nooks and crannies that weren’t obvious unless you knew where to look. Regarding how much of something was produced, I pointed out that if an inspector walked past machine A three times a day and counted the output, he had no idea what could potentially have been produced and then taken away from the normal finished goods shelves. Also, I said I could hide a Volkswagen Beatle right there on the floor, in plain sight and no one would find it. I walked our group out on the floor and pointed to a large machine. I said, suppose you took all the panels of that machine and constructed them around the Beatle right there in the vacant space beside the machine. Run dummy power cords, attach it to a few lights, and no one would ever know. The idea that an inspector can find something originates with the dismantling of the South African nuclear program. But the South Africans, aware they were about to lose control and their government would become a kleptocracy, pointed out every piece of equipment they had and helped the inspection team take it away. Without that level of assistance, there is no inspection regime in existence that would be effective in monitoring what really goes on when the team is not present.

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