The rescue promised to be arduous and laborious. He is. But at least there remains the hope of reviving the Iranian nuclear agreement (JCPoA), which has been devitalized since the withdrawal of the United States under Donald Trump, then the successive violations by Iran of its obligations. Timid signals, sent by Tehran this week, show a new disposition to the discussion, it is estimated in Paris. However, the regime is still the only player in the file, at this stage, which refuses the principle of an informal meeting, under the auspices of the high representative of the European Union, Josep Borrell.
First gesture: Iran has accepted the idea of a technical meeting with international experts on the subject of traces of uranium found on two old undeclared sites. A point should be made on this subject before the next meeting of the Board of Governors in June. In addition, according to the conservative newspaper Vatan-é Emrouz, President Hassan Rohani is said to have given the order to suspend the production of uranium metal in the Isfahan plant (center). The government has not denied this information. This serious violation of Iranian commitments under the JCPoA was announced in February, after the resumption of enrichment to 20% of uranium. These Iranian tactical gestures do not radically change the regime’s dispositions, but make it possible not to accentuate its isolation.
Instrumentation of inspections
Europeans too must be flexible. To give a real chance to the diplomatic channel and to wrest the holding of this informal meeting within fifteen days, the countries of E3 (France, United Kingdom and Germany), have chosen to make a concession. They gave up, at the last moment, on the evening of March 3, to table a resolution before the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. This text, placed ” on break “ according to Paris, aimed to denounce the reduction in the means of verification available to IAEA inspectors in Iran, due to the abandonment, on February 23, of the additional protocol of the JCPoA by the Iranian regime.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, who had visited Tehran two days before the abandonment, had obtained a temporary technical agreement to ensure minimum monitoring of nuclear activities on site for the next three months. At the opening of the Board of Governors, he was moved at the start of the week by the instrumentalisation of inspections. “Having inspectors and transparency is neither a reward, nor an incentive, nor a punishment. This is the essence of the work we do here ”, he explained to the press.
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