What’s IAEA? Global agency monitoring Iran nuclear deal

VIENNA: The UN’s nuclear watchdog, which picked Argentina’s Rafael Grossi as its new

head yesterday, is charged with monitoring the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal as part of its efforts to prevent nuclear weapons proliferation worldwide. The landmark 2015 agreement gave Iran relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program, but it has been pushed to the verge of collapse since US President Donald Trump withdrew from it last year and proceeded to re-introduce sanctions.

In retaliation, Iran has been scaling back its commitments to limits on nuclear activities since earlier this year, putting pressure on the remaining signatories to the deal - Britain,

China, France, Germany and Russia. The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has had the delicate task of verifying the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), through regular inspections of Iranian facilities.

What role does IAEA have?

Set up in 1957, the IAEA has 171 member states and employs some 2,500 experts. Its Board of Governors, comprising 35 states, meets five times a year. The IAEA promotes peaceful uses of atomic energy while at the

same time overseeing efforts to detect and prevent possible nuclear weapons proliferation.

Because of previous international concern over its nuclear program, Iran agreed in 2003 to allow snap IAEA inspections of its nuclear facilities. However, cooperation broke down in 2006. The IAEA referred Iran to the UN Security Council, which went on to impose sanctions, and Iran halted enhanced IAEA inspections. A renewed diplomatic push eventually led to the JCPOA in 2015, under which the IAEA is charged with regular inspections of declared facilities in Iran such

as uranium mines and centrifuge workshops for up to 25 years.

The aim is to ensure that Iran is not holding undeclared stocks of nuclear material and is not enriching uranium beyond a certain level. But Tehran has already hit back three times with countermeasures this year in response to the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal. In its latest move it fired up advanced centrifuges to boost its enriched uranium stockpiles. Iran has also broken the limits on uranium enrichment levels and the overall stockpile of enriched uranium laid down in the JCPOA. —AFP