The IAEA Report

The long-awaited IAEA report on Iran’s nuclear program showed Iran making substantial progress in clarifying ambiguities on its past work, but knowledge about present activities was diminishing. Iran’s cooperation with IAEA was called a “significant step forward.”

The report could not make an assessment of Iran’s present activities. While the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz was under IAEA safeguards, knowledge of Iran's progress was diminishing as Iran stopped implementation of the Additional Protocol that gives increased inspection rights to the IAEA.

IAEA Chief Mohamed ElBaradei’s report also confirmed that Iran has accomplished installation of 3,000 centrifuges and injected UF6 to all centrifuges to go through the enrichment process. The number is generally believed to be the threshold for a nuclear weapon program.

The US is expected to argue that by not disclosing the full extent of current activities, Iran is covertly developing a nuclear weapon. Russia and China are likely to argue that Iran is making some progress in addressing past questions.