UN watchdog says it can't verify whether Iran has suspended all uranium enrichment

VIENNA, Austria — Iran has not allowed the United Nations nuclear agency access to its nuclear facilities bombed by Iran and the United States during a 12-day war in June, according to a confidential report by the watchdog circulated to member states and seen Friday by The Associated Press.

The report from the International Atomic Energy Agency stressed that it “cannot verify whether Iran has suspended all enrichment-related activities,” or the “size of Iran’s uranium stockpile at the affected nuclear facilities.”

The report also said some of Iran’s most highly enriched uranium, close to weapons grade, was stored in an underground area of its nuclear site in Isfahan. It was the first time the IAEA has reported where uranium enriched to up to 60% purity, close to the 90% of weapons grade, has been stored. The tunnel complex’s entrance was hit in US and Israeli military strikes last year but the facility seems largely unharmed, diplomats say.

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Iran is legally obliged to cooperate with the IAEA under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, but suspended all cooperation after the war with Israel.

According to the IAEA, Iran maintains a stockpile of 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60% purity — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

That stockpile could allow Iran to build as many as 10 nuclear bombs, should it decide to weaponize its program, IAEA director general Rafael Grossi warned in a recent interview with the AP. He added that it doesn’t mean that Iran has such a weapon.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/un-watchdog-says-it-cant-verify-whether-iran-has-suspended-all-uranium-enrichment/