Iran Called to Explain Uranium IAEA Found at Three Secret Nuclear Sites

After a critical report by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said a presence of uranium particles was detected at three undeclared nuclear sites in Iran, Tehran’s authorities were asked to explain that on Tuesday.

The agency was probing the possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program and nuclear sites that Tehran has not disclosed.

According to the IAEA report, Iran’s answers to long-standing questions about apparent nuclear activity at Marivan, Varamin, and Turquzabad sites are not credible and are raising questions about the nature of its nuclear work, which must change fast, France’s Foreign Ministry said.

This could pose a serious issue and herald a new diplomatic clash during next week’s meeting of IAEA’s 35-nation board of governors since the stalled efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran could suffer a further blow if Western powers seek a resolution criticizing Iran.

In line with the March agreement on an approach for resolving the issue of the sites between Iran and IAEA, its chief Rafael Grossi is due to report his conclusions during the meeting.

IAES reports show that Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched to 60% had increased to 43.3 kg, 10 kg more than three months ago, and warned it could provide roughly enough material for an atomic bomb if Iran took the additional step of enriching the uranium to 90% purity.

According to arms control experts, moving to 90% would not pose a technical challenge for Iran.

Due to fears that it could jeopardize Vienna nuclear talks, those powers have until now repeatedly shied away from admonishing Iran at the board, but the situation has changed now that the talks are stalled and hopes for a revived nuclear deal are fading.

Blaming Israeli influence, Tehran refused IAEA’s latest report as unfair with Mohammad Reza Ghaebi, Iran’s representative to the IAEA, stressing it does not reflect Iran’s extensive cooperation with the agency.

Meanwhile, Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett accused Iran on Tuesday of stealing documents from the IAEA to hide evidence of its plans to build a nuclear bomb.