Inspections report worsens Iran crisis
US: Tehran holding IAEA inspector was outrageous provocation
Iran accused an international atomic monitor of setting off explosives detectors at its main enrichment plant, ratcheting up tensions that threaten to tip the nation into a new nuclear crisis.
The International Atomic Energy Agency inspector triggered alarms during routine screening on October 28 at Iran’s Natanz enrichment facility, Ambassador Gharib Abadi said at a briefing in Vienna. The IAEA recalled the inspector after she was questioned by Iranian authorities over traces of explosives detected in her handbag.
US ambassador to the IAEA, Jackie Wolcott, called the detention of the monitor for questioning an “outrageous and unwarranted act of intimidation,” according to a statement.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of accelerating its efforts to produce enough fissile material for an atomic weapon. The top US diplomat said Iran’s recent “nuclear escalations” were aimed at extorting the international community and that “all nations” should take steps to increase pressure on Tehran.— Agencies
The United States on Thursday called for “serious steps” to be taken after Iran resumed uranium enrichment at its underground Fordow plant in a new step back from its commitments under a 2015 nuclear deal.
“Iran’s expansion of proliferation-sensitive activities raises concerns that Iran is positioning itself to have the option of a rapid nuclear breakout,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.
“It is now time for all nations to reject this regime’s nuclear extortion and take serious steps to increase pressure.”
Iran is nearing a new atomic crisis after failing to cooperate with international inspectors investigating radioactive samples discovered at a site identified by Israel.
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) top inspector, Massimo Aparo, told diplomats in a closed-door meeting in Vienna on Wednesday that Iran is evading attempts to discover the source of man-made and natural uranium particles detected at a warehouse in Tehran earlier this year, according to two officials familiar with the briefing who asked not to be identified.
The IAEA convened an extraordinary meeting of the 35-member board Thursday to discuss the new concerns.
The findings threaten to open a new front in the tense confrontation that has erupted over Iran’s nuclear programme since the United States withdrew from the multi-power nuclear deal with Tehran last year and reimposed punishing economic sanctions.
Iran this week announced it would begin enriching uranium at Fordow, a fortified site built into the side of a mountain.
The IAEA has satellite images showing that the Turquz-Abad site where the particles were found was cleared out after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented documents that Mossad spies smuggled out of a secret warehouse in Tehran.
Those files allegedly show Iran lied about a weapons project that operated until 2003, and then intensified efforts to hide its atomic archive after agreeing to the 2015 nuclear accord.
The US is expected to press European allies that remain committed to the pact to support authorizing IAEA inspectors to broaden their investigation.