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New Revelations About Iran's Secret Nuclear Activities

February 3, 2023
Faramarz Davar
3 min read
IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said that the agency’s inspectors found the change during an unannounced visit on January 21 at the Fordow uranium-enrichment site.
IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said that the agency’s inspectors found the change during an unannounced visit on January 21 at the Fordow uranium-enrichment site.
The IAEA inspectors detected that two cascades of IR-6 centrifuges were interconnected in a way that was substantially different from the mode of operation declared by Tehran to the UN agency.
The IAEA inspectors detected that two cascades of IR-6 centrifuges were interconnected in a way that was substantially different from the mode of operation declared by Tehran to the UN agency.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog has warned that Iran has made an undeclared change to the interconnection between the two clusters of advanced centrifuges enriching uranium to up to 60-percent purity, close to nuclear weapons grade, at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP).

In a confidential report to member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the agency’s Director-General Rafael Grossi said that IAEA inspectors found the change during an unannounced visit on January 21 at the underground site located near the city of Qom.

The IAEA inspectors detected that two cascades of IR-6 centrifuges were interconnected in a way that was substantially different from the mode of operation declared by Tehran to the UN agency.

Inspectors have stepping up checks at Fordow after Iranian officials said they would dramatically expand enrichment activities.

Why is the Report important?

Grossi said that Iran is once again conducting clandestine uranium-enrichment work that could lead to the making of a nuclear bomb. The tense situation is similar to the one that existed before Tehran and world powers reached the 2015 nuclear agreement, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Since this agreement, Fordow and another nuclear facility in Natanz, in Isfahan province, have been under the direct supervision of IAEA inspectors.

Therefore, secret work in these two facilities cannot remain secret for more than a few days because it is the duty of IAEA inspectors to conduct both regular and surprise inspections there and immediately report any changes to the IAEA’s director-general.

Among a wide range of tensions between Iran and the international community, the discovery of renewed secret activities at Fordow will further undermine the trust in the Islamic Republic.

Following Grossi’s report, the E3 group comprising the United Kingdom, France and Germany issued a statement condemning Iran’s “decision to further expand” its nuclear program.

“By increasing its production capabilities at Fordow and Natanz, well beyond Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) limits, and by accelerating its production of enriched

 Why Iran has to Report Changes at Fordow?

According to its agreements with the IAEA, Iran is obligated to inform the agency of any work related to radioactive material before starting it and, in some cases, the work must be done in the presence of inspectors.

Regarding the change made to the interconnection between two clusters of uranium enriching machines at Fordow, Iranian officials did not inform the IAEA both beforehand and afterward.

Importance of the Changes at Fordow?

Under the JCPOA, Fordow must not enrich uranium at all, but the Islamic Republic started enrichment work there two years ago after the United States unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear accord and started imposing economic sanctions on Iran. Under the deal, Tehran had curbed its nuclear program in return for relief from sanctions.

It now appears likely that the Islamic Republic has connected two cascades of advanced IR-6 centrifuges at Fordow — each group comprising 164 centrifuges. It is possible that Iran’s aim is to speed up uranium enrichment to 60-percent purity, something that it started two years ago. Enrichment at 60 percent is one step away from the 90 percent level required for nuclear weapons.

According to Grossi, only countries that want to build a nuclear weapon enrich uranium to 60 percent, and he estimates that the Islamic Republic currently has enough enriched uranium to build a few nuclear bombs. Of course, enriched uranium by itself is not enough to produce atomic bombs, and Grossi said Iran still has a distance to go before it can produce an actual nuclear weapon.

Iran’s long Record of Concealing nuclear Work

The Fordow nuclear facility was built in the 2000s without the knowledge of the IAEA and its existence was disclosed to the UN agency in the fall of 2009, but only after the site became known to Western intelligence services.

The same is true regarding uranium enrichment work that was concealed from the IAEA for a long time. Since then, the Iranian people have been paying the steep price for the far-reaching sanctions imposed over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

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fernando moyano
February 4, 2023

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