UN’S NUCLEAR MONITORING IN IRAN ‘NO LONGER INTACT’
▶ Tehran refuses requests to fix cameras at a site near the capital where centrifuges are made
The UN’s atomic watchdog says its monitoring programme in Iran is “no longer intact” after Tehran refused requests to repair cameras at a site near the capital.
The complex, which makes centrifuge parts, was damaged in June in what Iran claims was an act of sabotage by Israel.
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iran refused to allow the agency access to the site owing to its continuing investigation into the incident.
“It hasn’t paralysed what we are doing there, but damage has been done, with a potential of us not being able to reconstruct the picture, the jigsaw puzzle,” he told NBC News.
Mr Grossi said he had so far been unable to establish direct communication with the country’s new hardline government.
He has not yet held talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.
“I hope to be able to have the opportunity to meet him soon because it’s very important … so when there is a problem, when there is a misunderstanding, when there is a disagreement, we can talk about it,” Mr Grossi said.
Washington and Tehran have been working towards returning to talks over the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Mr Amirabdollahian said on Saturday that discussions about reviving the agreement would soon resume in the Austrian capital Vienna. Meanwhile, the administration of US President Joe Biden has said it will discuss a “plan B” if the talks fail.
Despite concerns over the IAEA’s inability to properly monitor Iran’s nuclear sites, Mr Grossi said there was “no indication” the country was racing to build a nuclear bomb.
But he used the situation in North Korea as an example of what could happen should Iran continue to deny inspectors access to all sites.
North Korea expelled inspectors in 2009 and is believed to have dozens of warheads.
Mr Grossi said Iran allowed his agency access to most cameras, to replace their batteries and memory cards, but not the site in the suburbs of Tehran.
“If and when the JCPOA will be restarted, I know that for the JCPOA partners to go back to an agreement, they will have to know where they are putting their feet,” he said.
The husband of BritishIranian charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has started a hunger strike to protest against the UK government’s failure to secure her return from Tehran.
Richard Ratcliffe has taken the step amid concerns his wife is being held because of the UK’s failure to pay a debt from an unfulfilled arms deal with Iran from the 1970s.
He said four UK foreign secretaries have repeated Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s assertion that “no stone would be left unturned” to secure Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release.
But little progress has been made in her case.
Mr Ratcliffe said he had spoken to UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who “shared how angry she was, how she would speak with the Iranian minister”.
“But it was not a trigger point to act. That would be when Nazanin was returned to prison,” he said. “For us, reimprisonment is too late. It would mean not seeing Nazanin until 2023.”
Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was first detained in April 2016 on charges of espionage and has served a full five-year jail sentence.
She was sentenced to a further year in prison in April after being found guilty of spreading propaganda against the regime.
She is currently living with her parents in Tehran but is unable to leave the country.
This month she lost her second appeal against her latest jail term.
“It’s deeply worrying that Richard Ratcliffe has felt compelled to resort once again to a life-threatening measure to bring attention to the desperate plight of his family,” said Rupert Skilbeck, director of legal charity Redress, which is representing the family.
“Five years on, we have only seen setback after setback. The UK government’s approach is clearly not working.
“It’s time to stand up to perpetrators of hostage-taking by sanctioning those who perpetuate this reprehensible practice, and to bring Nazanin home.”
She is one of at least four British-Iranian dual citizens who are either in prison in Iran or unable to leave the country. The charity has submitted a dossier to Ms Truss that calls on the government to take a more robust approach by imposing sanctions on 10 officials linked to Iranian hostage-taking.
Mr Ratcliffe went on hunger strike for 15 days in June 2019 in solidarity with his wife, who took the same action while detained in Iran’s Evin jail.
He camped outside the Iranian embassy in London, where he was visited by more than 100 MPs and received increased publicity for her case.