Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

IAEA officials unsure Iran’s nuclear program is ‘exclusively peaceful’

Tehran refused to answer requests for details on nuclear material at three undeclared sites.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi (left) at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors in Vienna on Nov. 17, 2011. Photo by Dean Calma/IAEA.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi (left) at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors in Vienna on Nov. 17, 2011. Photo by Dean Calma/IAEA.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) cannot guarantee Iran’s nuclear program is for “exclusively” peaceful purposes because Tehran has not answered the agency’s requests for details on nuclear material found at three undeclared sites, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

According to AFP, which has seen a report from the IAEA, the agency’s director-general Rafael Grossi was “increasingly concerned that Iran has not engaged with the agency on the outstanding safeguards issues during this reporting period.”

The report said the IAEA could not “provide assurances that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.”

According to a second IAEA report, also reported by AFP, Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium is 19 times larger than the amount agreed to under the 2015 nuclear deal. It now stands at 3,940 kilograms, which is 131 kilograms more than a previous quarterly report.

“When journalists make these requests, they’re really made on behalf of the public, not to bury the issue and respond 11 months later,” Randy Mastro, a former deputy New York City mayor, told JNS.
“Under any Republican administration, Israelis are never going to be sanctioned for simply advocating against aid to Hamas or advocating against illegal Palestinian construction,” Eugene Kontorovich, a law professor, told JNS.
The USAID Inspector General’s office is “also working to prevent Hamas-linked staff from jumping to other aid organizations operating in Gaza,” a senior Trump admin official told JNS.
“Regardless of how it is ultimately classified, incidents like this send shockwaves through the Jewish community,” Rabbi Noah Farkas of Jewish Federation Los Angeles told JNS.
Prosecutors said the man caused damage to both facilities before sending texts boasting about the vandalism.
Despite Israeli objections to previously reported terms, the official said Washington is confident that all U.S. allies “will get on board” with the emerging agreement.