UN agency questions nature of Iran’s nuclear program

The UN's nuclear watchdog said Wednesday it could not guarantee the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program, saying there was "no progress" in resolving questions over the past presence of nuclear material at undeclared sites.

In a report seen by AFP, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it was "not in a position to provide assurance that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.”

It said IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi was "increasingly concerned that Iran has not engaged with the Agency on the outstanding safeguards issues during this reporting period and, therefore, that there has been no progress towards resolving them.”

The IAEA has been pressing Iran for answers on the presence of nuclear material at three undeclared sites and the issue led to a resolution criticizing Iran being passed at the June meeting of the IAEA's board of governors.

Tehran, which maintains that its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful, this week again insisted that the IAEA probe would have to be concluded in order to revive the 2015 deal on its nuclear program with world powers.

In the report, Grossi called "upon Iran to fulfill all of its legal obligations" in clearing up the outstanding questions about the three sites.

The report further showed that Iran’s stock of uranium enriched up to 60 percent – close to weapons grade – has grown enough, if enriched further, for a nuclear bomb.

Passing that threshold is a milestone in the unraveling of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, which capped the purity to which Iran was allowed to enrich uranium at 3.67 percent, well below the 20 percent it achieved before the deal and the roughly 90 percent that is weapons-grade.