Citing confidential documents issued by the IAEA to its member states, they reported that Tehran had refused the IAEA access to two sites at which the agency made a request to carry out "location-specific environmental sampling" after receiving no replies to its six letters.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was signed in July 2015 by Iran and the E3/EU+3 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and the USA - also referred to as the P5+1 - plus the European Union) and implemented in January 2016. Under its terms, Iran agreed to limit its uranium enrichment activities, eliminate its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium and limit its stockpile of low enriched uranium over the subsequent 15 years.
In May 2018, US President Donald Trump terminated the USA's participation in the JCPOA, and directed the US administration immediately to begin the process of re-imposing sanctions against Iran related to the agreement.
In January this year, Germany, the UK and France triggered a dispute resolution mechanism over the JCPOA, following the Middle Eastern country's further step away from its commitments. The foreign ministers of the E3 wrote to Josep Borrell, EU foreign affairs chief and coordinator of the JCPOA joint commission, for resolution through the mechanism, as set out in paragraph 36 of the agreement.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi yesterday stressed the important role France has played with respect to the 2015 JCPOA agreement in discussions with French president Emmanuel Macron during Grossi’s first official visit to France since taking office in December last year.
