ISIS has published its analysis of the IAEA’s report on new developments on the clandestine nuclear program in Syria. As I wrote on August 20, more details “ can be expected to be discussed in the next DG report to the IAEA Board of Governors .”            In my August 20 blog, I went into what it would mean if the disclosed nuclear material was above the ‘ starting point of safeguards ’ or before that point. What has been revealed makes most of that not relevant or applicable.            To my surprise, the material is in the form of some 8,800 fabricated natural uranium metal fuel elements intended as the first core loading of the clandestine DPRK-duplicate graphite moderated, carbon dioxide cooled plutonium production reactor.            Yes, that was undeclared nuclear material that had to be reported to the IAEA under Syria’s NPT safeguard...

IAEA Director General Grossi was in Syria again (He was there in June.) and held a press conference in Damascus with the Syrian Foreign Minister. He reported having visited the site where in 2007 Israel bombed to destruction a nuclear reactor in construction, the buried remains of which are now being excavated, apparently under IAEA inspector observation.       Grossi also mentioned that IAEA inspectors will visit another site where there is nuclear material. He said: “ We’re talking about a few tons of nuclear material that could be put to bad use and Syria has decided to open up this site to the inspectors of the IAEA. This material will be accounted for and will be put within the international safeguard system .” No further details have been published (They can be expected to be discussed in the next DG report to the IAEA Board of Governors.)       Let’s see if DG Grossi’s remarks are correct regarding what the safeguards situation might be for...

Trump posted on August 2: Today's headlines suggest that Trump has the military 'card' and Iran has the rest of the deck. Trump wants a quick ' total surrender' and, not getting that, is likely to go for ' decapitation ' in the coming days. Does he realize that is what Iran wants? They want him to lose badly in the midterms and Netanyahu/Hegseth escalation is likely to achieve that.  Here are the August 3 headlines from Iran International. Trump  • Iran talks to proceed in two phases, Trump says  • Trump says he is giving Iran ' every last chance before decapitation '  • Trump says US blockade to remain until Iran deal or ‘ total surrender ’  • Trump touts ‘ denuclearization of Iran ’ as major achievement   Iran  • No new Iran negotiations planned despite Trump comments - CBS  • Khamenei aide says Trump deliberately kept Israel out of renewed Iran strikes  • Iran rejects US proposal to reopen Strait of Hormuz - Al Mayadeen  • Venu...

The IAEA has published part of its annual report on the international safeguards it carried out in 2025. (The entire confidential report is distributed to governments,)  In it there is a nice summary of IAEA's interactions with Iran in 2025. It explains that Iran was declared to be in noncompliance with its NPT safeguards agreement with IAEA and has not remedied that noncompliance, and that lack of information and access to the bombed nuclear enrichment facilities constitutes a "proliferation concern."  Here it is.  A. Safeguards Statement for 2025           In 2025, safeguards were applied for 190 States with safeguards agreements in force with the Agency. Forty-four States had comprehensive safeguards agreements in force, but no additional protocols in force.  Islamic Republic of Iran            For one State [ Iran] , the Secretariat found no indication of the diversion of declared nuclear material ...

     Reuters reported the following after the US bragged about hitting 80 targets in Iran, which included killing two fishermen and blowing up two railway bridges:                 In a letter to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, Iran's mission at the UN accused   the United States of "blatant violation of the Charter of the United Nations and its international                obligations" and said its attacks violated the memorandum of understanding signed by the two                     countries.                 A spokesperson for parliament's National Security Commission had said options for retaliation ⁠    included withdrawing from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), changing Iran's nuclear         doctri...

President Trump, once again ignoring his commitment in paragraph 1 of the Islamabad MOU, posted on June 28 a threat of use of force against Iran. But this time he seems to be threatening a nuclear attack, in order to accomplish his threat that “ the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist !”  Here is President Trump’s full threat.                      " United States aircraft just struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN! It is very possible that they will never learn! There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist! " [ Truth Social]                  About an hour after Trump's post, Kuwait's army said its air d...

     U.S. President Donald Trump said on June 23 that Iran had agreed to nuclear inspections into "infinity," while Tehran said it had made no such concession in negotiations, raising questions about the viability of their fragile peace deal. [Reuters]            What our government officials and ‘experts’, and therefore journalists, continue to say or write about the Iran nuclear situation is quite often off-base. Is it too much to ask them to absorb the following nuclear nonproliferation fundamentals?            It starts with the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1970. Iran is one of almost two hundred countries whose status under the NPT is a non-nuclear weapon state (NNWS). (Five states are nuclear weapon states (NWS)). When a NNWS adhered to NPT, it committed to the following:            - Not to “manufacture or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons” (Article II);...

Paragraph 1 of the Islamabad MOU, signed by President Donald Trump at Versailles a few days ago, includes:            1 — The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran … undertake … to r efrain from the threat or use of force against each other…       The start of negotiations in Switzerland today seemed to be going well, with Vice President Vance telling reporters President Trump had:                 " asked us to turn over a new leaf to transform our relationship with the people of Iran ".       But then, on Sunday, June 21, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social:                 " Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in ‌Lebanon ⁠from causing trouble. If they don’t, ⁠we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just ⁠like we did last ⁠week, only harder!! !"       Fur...

It has taken a long time, but we finally have the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Nuclear issues are addressed only in paragraphs 8 and 9 of the 14 paragraphs. Here is my commentary on how the nuclear issues are treated, followed by the full text of the two paragraphs.  Commentary  1. No nuclear weapons . This commitment by Iran is the same as it made by joining the NPT. The NPT commitment has an ‘exit ramp’ through withdrawal from NPT. Will there be a comparable provision in the final deal?  2. Enriched uranium stockpiles . “ Resolve the disposition ” - how that will apply to all the enriched uranium - 60%, 20%, up to 5% - remains to be seen. Iran has committed “ to resolve ”, not to eliminate.  3. Uranium enrichment . Iran has “ agreed to discuss ” “ a satisfactory framework ” for the final deal, in relation to “ Iran’s nuclear needs .” At least formally in the MOU, Iran has not com...