Wednesday, May 11, 2022

UN nuclear agency ‘extremely concerned’ by Iranian silence on undeclared sites

VIENNA, Austria — The UN atomic energy watchdog chief said Tuesday that he was “extremely concerned” about Iran’s lack of cooperation as the EU seeks to unblock talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.

Talks between world powers and Iran have stalled since mid-March as negotiators seek to return to the landmark accord that curtailed the Islamic republic’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

The International Atomic Energy Agency is “trying to clarify a number of still open matters with Iran,” IAEA head Rafael Grossi told a European Parliament committee.

“I am referring to the fact that we, in the last few months, were able to identify traces of enriched uranium in places that had never been declared by Iran as places where any activity was taking place,” he said.

“The situation does not look very good. Iran, for the time being, has not been forthcoming in the kind of information we need from them… We are extremely concerned about this,” he said. READ MORE