IAEA calls on Iran to ‘re-engage’ as West pressures it with resolution

VIENNA: UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi called on Iran on Monday (Jun 8) to “re-engage” with him so inspections can resume at sites the US and Israel bombed a year ago, as the US led a push for a resolution to that effect at the agency’s board.

Iran still has not informed the International Atomic Energy Agency of what happened to those bombed nuclear sites or the nuclear material, including uranium enriched to near bomb grade, that was stored there.

While the bombings destroyed or badly damaged uranium-enrichment facilities, much of the highly enriched uranium, including some enriched to up to 60 percent, a short step from the roughly 90 per cent of weapons grade, is thought to have survived.

COMMUNICATION CHANNEL ‘BROKEN’

“It’s very important that we re-engage,” Grossi told the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors on the first day of a quarterly meeting.

“I call on Iran to engage the Agency constructively in order to facilitate the full and effective implementation of safeguards in Iran,” he added in a separate, written statement to the board, using a term that encompasses inspections.

The IAEA has conducted some inspections at sites that were not bombed, but it halted those on safety grounds in February because of renewed military strikes, and has since only inspected Iran’s operating power plant at Bushehr.

“I have sporadic contacts with the foreign minister and others, but basically the channel of communication is broken,” Grossi told a press conference after he addressed the board.