Iran’s near-bomb-grade uranium stockpile ‘a matter of serious concern’ after 12-day war with Israel, watchdog says.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has not been able to verify Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium since Israel and the United States struck the country’s nuclear sites back in June, according to a new report.
The watchdog circulated a confidential report to member states, claiming it had been unable to carry out “long overdue” inspections of seven of the sites targeted in the so-called 12-day war, including major facilities Fordo and Natanz.
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The report, seen by several news agencies, said the watchdog needed to verify “inventories of previously declared nuclear material” to settle concerns over “the possible diversion of declared nuclear material from peaceful use”.
While the report criticised Iran’s lack of cooperation, it did say that IAEA inspectors would be visiting the country on Wednesday to conduct inspections at the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre site, located some 350km (215 miles) southeast of Tehran
During the war, Israel struck buildings at the Isfahan site, among them a uranium conversion facility. The US also struck Isfahan with missiles.
Iran suspended all cooperation with the IAEA after the war with Israel, but went on to reach an agreement in Cairo at the beginning of September to resume inspections.
But later that same month, the United Nations reimposed crushing sanctions on Iran, drawing an angry response from Tehran and leading the country to halt implementation of the Cairo agreement.
In August, European powers had reimposed the UN sanctions after Iran failed to enter into direct talks with the US and clarify the status of its near weapons-grade uranium stockpile.
‘A matter of serious concern’
The US and Israel claimed they attacked Iran because it was getting too close to being able to produce a nuclear weapon.
Iran says its aims are entirely peaceful, and the IAEA has said it has no credible indication of a coordinated weapons programme there.
Ever since the 12-day war, the agency has been calling on Iran to say what happened to its stock, which is enriched to up to 60 percent purity, a short step from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent.
Iran’s near-bomb-grade uranium stockpile was “a matter of serious concern”, said the report. In theory, the stockpile would be enough to produce about 10 nuclear bombs.
While some enriched uranium will have been destroyed in the attacks, diplomats say much of the stock was likely stored at a deeply buried facility at Isfahan where the entrance tunnels were hit, but damage appears limited.
The agency has so far only inspected some of the 13 nuclear facilities that were “unaffected” by Israeli and US attacks. It said that re-establishing a full picture of stocks would be arduous.
