Kazakhstan Offers to Store Iran's Uranium Pending US-Iran Agreement
Kazakhstan offered to take custody of Iran's near-weapons-grade uranium stockpiles if a US-Iran political deal is reached, IAEA Director General Grossi confirmed.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev offered Kazakhstan as a custodian for Iran's uranium stockpiles, including material enriched near weapons-grade levels, during a May 26 meeting with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi in Astana. The offer is conditional on a political agreement first being reached between Iran and the United States.
Kazakhstan already hosts the IAEA Low Enriched Uranium Bank at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in Oskemen, but that existing facility is not authorized to handle Iranian highly enriched material. Any arrangement to store Iran's stockpiles would require new legal frameworks and infrastructure to be established. The proposal is framed as a gesture of good faith to support the technical implementation of any future nuclear agreement once a broader political bargain is struck.
However, significant obstacles remain. Recent reports indicate Iran has not agreed to hand over its stockpile, and the IAEA has noted that its verification capabilities regarding Iran's nuclear holdings are currently impaired. The Kazakh offer, while signaling diplomatic willingness to reduce nuclear risks, depends on conditions that have yet to be met and faces resistance from the very party whose material it proposes to house.
