Iran operated three secret nuclear sites until early 2000s, UN watchdog says
Iran had at least three undeclared nuclear sites until the early 2000s, but refuses to provide 'credible answers" about its activities there, the UN's nuclear watchdog said on Monday.
The three sites, Varamin, Marivan and Turquzabad, were accessed by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2019 and 2020. Uranium particles were detected at the sites.
But the agency's efforts to obtain an explanation have gone unanswered, said the IAEA director general Rafael Grossi.
'Unfortunately, Iran has repeatedly either not answered, or not provided, technically credible answers to the agency's questions,' he said at the quarterly board meeting on Monday.
This included high-level meetings and consultations, he added. Mr Grossi last week met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Cairo, along with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.
The lack of answers has meant the IAEA could not conclude that Iran's nuclear programme is "entirely peaceful", as Tehran has long claimed, Mr Grossi said. He accused Tehran of seeking to 'sanitise the locations', which he said has impeded the agency's work.
Details of the three sites were revealed in the IAEA's quarterly report, which was widely leaked last week. It found that Iran had an estimated 400kg of uranium enriched up to 60 per cent as of May 17, marking an increase of more than 133kg since the last report in February.
Uranium needs to be enriched to about 90 per cent to develop nuclear weapons. The amount of material is enough to produce 10 weapons if refined to that level.
"The agency's comprehensive assessment of what took place, based on our technical evaluation of all available safeguards-relevant information, has led us to conclude that these three locations, and other possible related locations, were part of an undeclared structured nuclear programme carried out by Iran until the early 2000s and that some activities used undeclared nuclear material," Mr Grossi said.
He suggested the nuclear material produced at the sites was 'still outside of safeguards'.
The announcement comes as Iran holds indirect negotiations with the US over its nuclear programme. Mr Grossi said he supported the negotiations and called for a diplomatic solution that would include arrangements for the IAEA to properly verify Iran's stockpile of nuclear material.
'I will continue to support and encourage the US and Iran to spare no effort and exercise wisdom and political courage to bring this to a successful conclusion,' he added. 'The effect of a stabilised situation in Iran with regards to its nuclear programme will be immediate and bring the Middle East one big step closer to peace and prosperity."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Khaleej Times
an hour ago
- Khaleej Times
Iran-Israel conflict: Top Arab League diplomats discuss escalating crisis
Arab League foreign ministers gathered in Istanbul late Friday to discuss the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel, Turkish state news agency Anadolu said, quoting diplomatic sources. The ministers were in Turkey's largest city on the eve of weekend gathering of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which was also slated to discuss the air war launched a week ago. Israel began its assault in the early hours of June 13, saying Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, triggering an immediate immediate retaliation from Tehran in the worst-ever confrontation between the two arch-rivals. Some 40 top diplomats are slated to join the weekend gathering of the OIC which will also have a session dedicated to discussing the Iran-Israel crisis, the Turkish foreign ministry said. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who met with his counterparts from Britain, France and Germany in Geneva on Friday, will also attend and address the diplomats, the ministry said. Earlier on Friday, Araghchi said Tehran was ready to "consider diplomacy" again only if Israel's "aggression is stopped". The Arab League ministers were expected to release a statement following their meeting, Anadolu said.
Khaleej Times
2 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
Iran, Israel launch new attacks after Tehran rules out nuclear talks
[Editor's Note: Follow the KT live blog for live updates on the Israel-Iran conflict.] Iran and Israel exchanged fresh attacks early on Saturday, a day after Tehran said it would not negotiate over its nuclear programme while under threat and Europe tried to keep peace talks alive. Shortly after 2:30 am in Israel (2330 GMT on Friday), the Israeli military warned of an incoming missile barrage from Iran, triggering air raid sirens across parts of central Israel, including Tel Aviv, as well as in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Interceptions were visible in the sky over Tel Aviv, with explosions echoing across the metropolitan area as Israel's air defence systems responded. At the same time, Israel launched a new wave of attacks against missile storage and launch infrastructure sites in Iran, the Israeli military said. Sirens also sounded in southern Israel, said Magen David Adom, Israel's national emergency service. An Israeli military official said Iran had fired five ballistic missiles and that there were no immediate indications of any missile impacts. There were no initial reports of casualties. The emergency service released images showing a fire on the roof of a multi-storey residential building in central Israel. Local media reported that the fire was caused by debris from an intercepted missile. Israel began attacking Iran last Friday, saying its longtime enemy was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran, which says its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes, retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israel. Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons. It neither confirms nor denies this. Its air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a US-based human rights organisation that tracks Iran. The dead include the military's top echelon and nuclear scientists. In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed in Iranian missile attacks, according to authorities. Reuters could not independently verify casualty figures for either side. Iran has repeatedly targeted Tel Aviv, a metropolitan area of around 4 million people and the country's business and economic hub, where some critical military assets are also located. Israel said it had struck dozens of military targets on Friday, including missile production sites, a research body it said was involved in nuclear weapons development in Tehran and military facilities in western and central Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said there was no room for negotiations with the US "until Israeli aggression stops". But he arrived in Geneva on Friday for talks with European foreign ministers at which Europe hopes to establish a path back to diplomacy. US President Donald Trump on Friday reiterated that he would take as long as two weeks to decide whether the United States should enter the conflict on Israel's side, enough time "to see whether or not people come to their senses", he said. Trump said he was unlikely to press Israel to scale back its airstrikes to allow negotiations to continue. "I think it's very hard to make that request right now. If somebody is winning, it's a little bit harder to do than if somebody is losing, but we're ready, willing and able, and we've been speaking to Iran, and we'll see what happens," he said. The Geneva talks produced little signs of progress, and Trump said he doubted negotiators would be able to secure a ceasefire. "Iran doesn't want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this one," Trump said. Hundreds of U.S. citizens have fled Iran since the air war began, according to a U.S. State Department cable seen by Reuters. Israel's envoy to the United Nations, Danny Danon, told the Security Council on Friday his country would not stop its attacks "until Iran's nuclear threat is dismantled". Iran's U.N. envoy Amir Saeid Iravani called for Security Council action and said Tehran was alarmed by reports that the U.S. might join the war. Russia and China demanded immediate de-escalation.
Dubai Eye
3 hours ago
- Dubai Eye
UN's Guterres urges 'give peace a chance' in Israel-Iran conflict
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Friday that expansion of the Israel-Iran conflict could "ignite a fire no one can control" and called on both sides and potential parties to the conflict to give peace a chance. Speaking at the United Nations Security Council session, Guterres said there were "moments when the directions taken will shape not just the fate of nations, but potentially our collective future". "This is such a moment," he said. He said expansion of the conflict would "ignite a fire that no one can control" and added: "We must not let that happen." "To the parties to the conflict, the potential parties to the conflict, and to the Security Council as the representative of the international community, I have a simple and clear message: give peace a chance," Guterres said. The Security Council session took place as European foreign ministers met their Iranian counterpart on Friday hoping to test Tehran's readiness to negotiate a new nuclear deal despite there being scant prospect of Israel ceasing its attacks soon. Israel has repeatedly bombed nuclear targets in Iran and Iran has fired missiles and drones at Israel as a week-old air war escalated with no sign yet of an exit strategy from either side. The White House said on Thursday US President Donald Trump would make a decision within the next two weeks whether to get involved on Israel's side. Iran said on Friday it would not discuss the future of its nuclear programme while under attack by Israel. Israel's UN ambassador, Danny Danon, said his country sought genuine efforts to dismantle Iran's nuclear capabilities from Friday's meeting between European and Iranian ministers, not just another round of talks "We have seen diplomatic talks for the last few decades, and look at the results," he told reporters. "If it is going to be like another session and debates, that's not going to work." Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, outlined Israeli attacks on nuclear facilities at Natanz, Isfahan and Arak. He said the level of radioactivity outside Iran's Natanz site has remained unchanged and at normal levels, indicating no external radiological impact on the population or the environment there. However, he said that within the facility there was both radiological and chemical contamination. He said the IAEA was not aware of any damage at Iran's Fordow plant at this time. An attack on Iran's Bushehr plant would be most serious, he said: "It is an operating nuclear power plant and hosts thousands of kilogrammes of nuclear material." "I want to make it absolutely and completely clear: In the case of an attack on the Bushehr nuclear power plant, a direct hit would result in a very high release of radioactivity to the environment," Grossi said. "Similarly, a hit that disabled the only two lines supplying electrical power to the plant could cause its reactor's core to melt." He said any action against the Tehran nuclear research reactor will also have severe consequences, "potentially for large areas of the city of Tehran and its inhabitants." The US ambassador to the United Nations, Dorothy Camille Shea, said the United States "continues to stand with Israel and supports its actions against Iran's nuclear ambitions." "We can no longer ignore that Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon," she said. China and Russia demanded immediate de-escalation. Russia's UN ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, said Israel's actions risked pulling third countries into the conflict and internationalization of the conflict must be avoided. He said targeting of what he called Iran's peaceful civilian nuclear facilities was "liable to plunge us into a hitherto unseen nuclear catastrophe."
