“I will not put a date on it,” he told reporters, “but we are approaching the point where a strict return to compliance” with the old agreement “does not reproduce the benefits that this agreement achieved.”
He said that “as time goes on and as Iran continues to advance its nuclear program, including more sophisticated centrifuges, enriching more material, learning more, there is a point where it would be very difficult to reap all the benefits.” the restrictions Iran agreed to six years ago. “We are not there yet, but it is getting closer,” he added.
The next few weeks will be considered critical. The opening of the UN General Assembly is traditionally a time for backward diplomacy, especially in Iran, and officials of the new Iranian government, including the new Foreign Minister Hossein, are expected. Amir Abdollahian, make your first appearances. Amir Abdollahian, 56, considered a tough person, has expressed his willingness to renew the deal, but in terms the new government can say they are much improved.
External experts say both Iran and North Korea, which launched a new cruise missile on Sunday that demonstrated the ability to dodge missile defenses, see this as a time to test the Biden administration.
“There is a strange similarity between what we see in Iran with enrichment and in North Korea with cruise missile testing,” said Rose Gottemoeller, a former multi-administration weapons control officer who now works at the University. of Stanford. “Both are trying to set the negotiating table in their favor while the Biden administration finally addresses them.”
On Sunday, Iranian officials reached a temporary agreement with the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael M. Grossi, to let the agency restore control devices to help measure the progress of the nuclear program. country. In recent months, agency inspectors have gone blind in their efforts to control some facilities, a growing source of concern for U.S. officials, who fear nuclear material could be diverted.
The agreement triggers an immediate inspection crisis, assuming inspectors can access their cameras and other equipment and make them work again. But it does not address the country’s drive to restore uranium production and to enrich itself at much higher levels and therefore much closer to the pump material, than before 2015.