(AFP) – The UN nuclear watchdog says it is not yet ready to verify Iran’s compliance with the recent deal with world powers, as Tehran invited inspectors to the key Arak site.
“We need to study the agreement (struck in Geneva on Sunday) and we have to identify the ways in which the elements relevant to the IAEA be put into practice,” International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yuyika Amano said on Thursday.
“It will take time because it is a quite complicated task and we would like to properly prepare and do the job properly…. I cannot tell when we will be ready,” he told reporters.
He added that the Vienna-based body would need more money to carry out the enlarged inspection role foreseen in Iran’s breakthrough deal with the United States, China, Britain, France and Germany – the P5+1.
“This requires a significant amount of money and manpower…. The IAEA’s budget is very, very tight. I don’t think we can cover everything from our own budget,” Amano said.
Under the terms of the deal, Iran will freeze certain activities for six months in exchange for minor relief from UN and Western sanctions that have hit its economy hard.
The temporary freeze is meant to make it more difficult for Iran to develop a nuclear weapons and to build confidence while Tehran and the P5+1 hammer out a long-term accord.
Iran also committed for six months “not to make further advances” at its Fordo and Natanz uranium enrichment sites and at the Arak heavy water reactor, which could provide Iran with weapons-grade plutonium once operating.
This will all have to be verified by the IAEA, meaning a considerably bigger strain on its financial and human resources.
Joseph Macmanus, US ambassador to the IAEA, said on Thursday that he was “very confident that the funding will be clearly understood (by member states)… and then will be provided”.
