BICOM

The latest International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) quarterly report on Iran’s nuclear programme is set to be delivered to United Nations (UN) member states today and is expected to detail Tehran’s continued nuclear development.

The period covered by the report largely pre-dates the election of Iran’s new President Hassan Rowhani. Reuters cites Western diplomats who say that the IAEA report will detail continued installation of advanced centrifuges, enabling increasingly rapid enrichment of uranium. Apparently, the report will also document Iran’s continued development of twenty per cent enriched uranium, considered just a small step from weapons-grade material. Although Iran’s stockpile is increasing, it reportedly remains well below 240 kg of such material, specified last year by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as his “red line” which may precipitate action against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The report will also give attention to the ongoing development of the Arak heavy water reactor. The plant could be used to produce plutonium, which can be utilised to make smaller, even more powerful nuclear warheads than weapons-grade uranium.

Meanwhile, in a related development, Iran has named Reza Najafi as its new ambassador to the IAEA in Vienna. Najafi has previously worked on disarmament issues within Iran’s foreign ministry and according to Reuters he was chosen by Iran’s new US-educated Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and approved by Rowhani.

Discussions between the IAEA and Iran over international inspections of its nuclear facilities have so far proved fruitless. In June, IAEA head Yukiya Amano said that talks had “for some time now…been going around in circles.” A parallel diplomatic track, between the so-called P5+1 forum (United States, UK, China, Russia, France and Germany) and Iran has also failed to make any real progress in resolving international concerns over Tehran’s nuclear programme.