IAEA convenes for emergency meeting as Iran breaches uranium limits
The premier nuclear regulatory agency of the United Nations will convene today for a special meeting on recent developments in Iran.
The United States called for the emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Friday, one day after Iran breached the 300-kilogram uranium stockpile limit set by the 2015 nuclear deal. Tehran also exceeded the agreement’s 3.67% uranium purity level limit by 0.83%.
After withdrawing from the 2015 deal, the US Trump administration has insinuated that Iran is attempting to build nuclear weapons—stating that Iran is only enriching uranium “for one reason”.
Iran has likely resumed production of fissile material as a negotiating tactic in the face of crippling US sanctions, the effects of which the economies of the EU, Russia and China combined have thus far been unable to mitigate.
The US likely called for today’s meeting to generate international pressure against Iran, seeking a resumption of the UN-backed international sanction regime that was lifted in 2015. However, the IAEA will almost certainly maintain the status quo today, seeking to engage Tehran in further negotiations. Given that Iran is still well below the 20% uranium enrichment level it reached in 2015, the agency will likely find it difficult to justify sanctions recommendations—especially given Washington’s unilateral withdrawal.
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