As Iran Allows the UN Access to Suspected Nuclear Sites, Its Uranium Stockpile Is Growing

September 8, 2020 AFRICSIS Nuclear Nonproliferation 0

Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, right, and Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, left, meeting in Tehran, Aug. 25, 2020. Iran agreed to allow the agency access to possible nuclear sites even as it has accumulated 10 times the amount of low-enriched uranium permitted in the 2015 nuclear deal.
Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, right, and Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, left, meeting in Tehran, Aug. 25, 2020. Iran agreed to allow the agency access to possible nuclear sites even as it has accumulated 10 times the amount of low-enriched uranium permitted in the 2015 nuclear deal.

According to the confidential quarterly IAEA report, distributed to member states on Sept. 4 and seen by PassBlue, as of Aug. 25, Iran had stockpiled 2105.4 kilograms of low-enriched uranium, an increase of 533.8 kilograms since the previous quarterly report, in June. The nuclear deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), allows Iran to keep a stockpile of 202.8 kilograms only.