Iran has failed to provide the necessary information about undeclared facilities where traces of nuclear materials were detected to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, the watchdog's director general said on Monday
VIENNA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2021) Iran has failed to provide the necessary information about undeclared facilities where traces of nuclear materials were detected to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, the watchdog's director general said on Monday.
In a report in late May, Grossi said that Tehran's refusal to give the agency clarity on the nuclear material present at the three undeclared locations may result in a fresh diplomatic row between Iran and Western countries and derail the nuclear talks. He added that the presence of man-made uranium particles at these locations proved that nuclear material or equipment contaminated by it had been present there.
"Iran has still not provided the necessary explanations for the presence of the nuclear material particles at any of three locations where the Agency has conducted complementary accesses. Nor has Iran answered the Agency's questions with regard to another undeclared location or clarified the current location of natural uranium in the form of a metal disc," Grossi told the board of Governors.
The IAEA head reiterated the agency's requirement for Iran to immediately clarify and resolve the issues "by providing information, documentation and answers to the Agency's questions."
"The lack of progress in clarifying the Agency's questions concerning the correctness and completeness of Iran's safeguards declarations seriously affects the ability of the Agency to provide assurance of the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme," he added.
This past weekend, Grossi traveled to Tehran to meet with the head of the Iranian nuclear agency, Mohammad Eslami. After the talks, evaluated by the IAEA head himself as frank and constructive, the sides issued a joint statement, in which they expressed willingness to maintain cooperation and agreed to allow the IAEA to replace memory cards in the CCTV system at the country's nuclear facilities.
