update desk

IAEA faults Iran for denying access to nuclear sites

U.N. nuclear watchdog’s quarterly report on Iran reveals Tehran tripled stockpile of enriched uranium • Agency issues second report taking Iran to task for stonewalling questions on three undeclared sites.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi in Vienna on Oct. 2, 2019. Credit: Dean Calma/IAEA via Wikimedia Commons.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi in Vienna on Oct. 2, 2019. Credit: Dean Calma/IAEA via Wikimedia Commons.

The United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) admonished Iran on Tuesday for not answering questions about nuclear activities at three sites and for denying access to two of them.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog issued its quarterly update on Iran’s atomic program on Tuesday, but for the first time since the start of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 nations went into effect in 2015, also issued a second report.

The regular report said that Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium had almost tripled since November.

“I judged it necessary to produce a second report because I thought the situation is serious enough to merit such a move on my part,” new IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told Reuters.

This second, confidential IAEA report was seen by Reuters, which reported that it calls Iran out for not allowing access to two sites and refusing to answer questions related to possible undeclared nuclear material and activities.

“We have insisted and despite all our efforts we have not been able to get that, so the situation requires on my part such a step because what this means is that Iran is curtailing the ability of the agency to do its work,” said Grossi.

Topics
Comments