Saudi Gazette report

LONDON — European powers have asked Iran to cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and grant it unimpeded access to all relevant sites and activities.

“In limiting IAEA access, Iran makes it harder for the international community to assure themselves that Iran’s activities remain exclusively peaceful, they said.

In a joint statement, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, also known as E3, have expressed their "deep concern over Iran’s continued violations of its nuclear-related commitments, including the escalatory steps taken since January 2021".

Following a briefing by the IAEA on its latest Iran report, the E3 said the recent Iranian activities present a significant nuclear proliferation risk, have irreversible consequences for Iran’s nuclear capabilities, and undermine the non-proliferation benefits of the nuclear deal, which is known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA).

“Iran continues to install technical infrastructure for the production of uranium metal and to produce uranium metal at laboratory scale. In addition, it is enriching uranium up to 60% to produce high enriched uranium for the first time,” the statement read.

“Iran has thus become the first and only country worldwide to produce 60% uranium in an IAEA-safeguarded facility. These are critical steps for nuclear weapons production and provide irreversible nuclear weapons-related knowledge gains,” the statement added.

Iran also continues to build up its low enriched uranium stockpile and to expand its enrichment capacity, the E3 said in the statement.

Calling for the report to be made public, the E3 said: “It is particularly regrettable that some of these steps have come at a time when all JCPoA participants and the United States are engaged in substantive discussions, with the objective of finding a diplomatic solution to restore the JCPoA,”