BICOM

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog yesterday candidly criticised Iran over its reluctance to accommodate international inspections of its nuclear facilities.

IAEA representatives have held ten rounds of talks with Iranian officials since the start of 2012, but have failed to reach an agreement on a framework for international inspections to take place. Speaking to the 35-nation IAEA board, Yukiya Amano who heads the organisation said, “Despite the intensified dialogue… To be frank, for some time now, we have been going around in circles.” A parallel diplomatic track, between the so-called P5+1 forum (United States, UK, China, Russia, France and Germany) and Iran has also failed to make any real progress in resolving international concerns over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Amano also said that even if the IAEA is granted access to the Parchin facility, where it is suspected nuclear ballistic tests may have been carried out, Iran may have already removed any evidence of illicit activities there, commenting “It may no longer be possible to find anything.” In addition, the IAEA chief lamented scant information provided by Iran over the Arak heavy water reactor, which could be used to produce plutonium to make smaller, even more powerful nuclear warheads than weapons-grade uranium. Amano said that the scarcity of details on Arak “is having an increasingly adverse impact on our ability to … implement an effective safeguards approach.”

The IAEA raised concerns over Arak in its latest quarterly Safeguards Report published last month. The report also revealed intensified installation of advanced next-generation enrichment equipment and an increase in Iran’s stockpile of 20 per cent enriched uranium, crucial to producing weapons-grade material.

In a separate development, the Independent online reports that Iranian officials claim to have uncovered a “spy ring” working for the UK and Israel to “sabotage” the country’s upcoming presidential elections.