International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials will travel to Washington next week for consultations with the United States as concerns grow over their inability to account for Iran’s stockpile of near-bomb grade uranium, Bloomberg reported.
Citing diplomats familiar with the matter, the report said the move follows the failure of IAEA safeguards chief Massimo Aparo to secure Iranian approval earlier this month to resume monitoring after Israel and Iran’s 12-day conflict in June.
Inspectors were expelled during the fighting, effectively halting international oversight of Tehran’s nuclear program. A few days after the war ended, Iran’s parliament passed a bill suspending cooperation with the agency, including inspections.
Diplomats told Bloomberg that Iran has continued to deny access to its main nuclear-fuel complex, citing chemical and radiological hazards from US and Israeli strikes. Tehran has suggested limited access may be possible to unaffected facilities, including its Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant on the Persian Gulf.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi said in an interview published Wednesday by state media: “We have not reached the point of cutting off cooperation with the agency, but future cooperation will certainly not resemble the past.”
The IAEA has not verified Iran’s inventory of highly enriched uranium since June 13, when Tehran informed inspectors it was prepared to move 409 kilograms of material enriched up to 60% to an undisclosed location, Bloomberg said.
Iran has repeatedly denied seeking nuclear arms, and both IAEA inspectors and US intelligence agencies have said there is no evidence of a weapons program since the early 2000s.
The consultations in Washington come as European powers warn Tehran that failure to resume negotiations and allow inspections by the end of August could trigger the snapback of UN sanctions.
Iran has dismissed the threat and warned it could withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if sanctions are restored.
According to Bloomberg, the IAEA is compiling a dossier highlighting inspector experience working in hazardous environments, citing precedents from Fukushima and Ukraine. But the agency faces budget strains, with member states questioning whether the $23 million earmarked for Iran monitoring should continue if inspections remain suspended.
