Deep inside a tunnel complex in the Iranian city of Isfahan, some of the world’s most closely watched nuclear material sits stored and largely uninspected, according to Reuters. This week, the UN’s nuclear watchdog decided it had waited long enough.
The International Atomic Energy Agency issued a confidential report on Friday urging Iran to immediately allow inspectors access to all its nuclear sites, singling out Isfahan as a location of serious and growing concern. The report, sent to IAEA’s 35-nation board ahead of next week’s quarterly meeting, arrives at a tense moment as nuclear negotiations between Washington and Tehran continue with no breakthrough yet in sight.
The numbers in the report are sobering. Before last June’s US-Israeli airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, Iran held an estimated 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent purity. That quantity, if enriched further, would be enough to build approximately ten nuclear weapons. Western powers and the IAEA believe most of that stockpile remains intact sitting in Isfahan’s tunnels, which appear to have survived the strikes largely undamaged.
Since those attacks, Iran has refused to reveal what happened to its highly enriched uranium or grant inspectors entry to affected sites. The IAEA called this unacceptable, stating that allowing inspections was “indispensable and urgent.”
Adding to the worry, Iran had announced a fourth enrichment plant at Isfahan just before the Israeli strikes. To this day, the IAEA does not know its exact location or whether it is even operational and Iran has never once allowed inspectors inside.
Satellite images reviewed by the agency show regular vehicle movement around the tunnel entrance at Isfahan, suggesting ongoing activity. What exactly is happening behind those tunnel walls remains unknown.
The IAEA noted carefully that a successful outcome in US-Iran nuclear talks would positively affect its ability to conduct proper oversight. In other words, diplomacy and transparency must walk together because right now, the world is flying dangerously blind.
