facts....
i always source my c/p facts. look for it.
The collapse of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal
Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, negotiated under then-President Barack Obama, allowed Iran to enrich uranium to 3.67% — enough to fuel a nuclear power plant but far below the threshold of 90% needed for weapons-grade uranium. It also drastically reduced Iran’s stockpile of uranium, limited its use of centrifuges and relied on the IAEA to oversee Tehran’s compliance through additional oversight.
But President Donald Trump in his first term in 2018
unilaterally withdrew America from the accord, insisting it wasn’t tough enough and didn’t address Iran’s missile program or its support for militant groups in the wider Mideast. That set in motion years of tensions, including
attacks at sea and on land.
Iran now enriches up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. It also has enough of a stockpile to build multiple nuclear bombs, should it choose to do so. Iran has long insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but the IAEA, Western intelligence agencies and others say Tehran had an organized weapons program up until 2003.
IAEA inspections and Iran
Under the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to allow the IAEA even greater access to its nuclear program. That included permanently installing cameras and sensors at nuclear sites. Those cameras, inside of metal housings sprayed with a special blue paint that shows any attempt to tamper with it, took still images of sensitive sites. Other devices, known as online enrichment monitors, measured the uranium enrichment level at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility.
The IAEA also regularly sent inspectors into Iranian sites to conduct surveys, sometimes collecting environmental samples with cotton clothes and swabs that would be tested at IAEA labs back in Austria. Others monitor Iranian sites via satellite images.
In the years since Trump’s 2018 decision, Iran has limited IAEA inspections and stopped the agency from
accessing camera footage. It’s also
removed cameras. At one point,
Iran accused an IAEA inspector of testing positive for explosive nitrates, something the agency disputed.
The IAEA has engaged in years of negotiations with Iran to restore full access for its inspectors. While Tehran hasn’t granted that, it also hasn’t entirely thrown inspectors out. Analysts view this as part of Iran’s wider strategy to use its nuclear program as a bargaining chip with the West.
What to know about inspections of Iran's nuclear program by the IAEA ahead of a key board vote
if iran has the capability & the materials, it is because yer chosen one did exactly what needed to be done to get that in motion.
Cybele Mayes-Osterman
