The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday that efforts to get Iran to co-operate with inspectors were not bearing fruit.
Director General Rafael Grossi reported “no progress” to the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency at the start of a three-day meeting in Vienna.
He said inspectors were in the dark about a “mass of activity” in Iran because cameras and monitoring equipment were disconnected.
It came as Iran said there was no plan for the IAEA to visit Tehran to resolve issues linked to unexplained nuclear traces.
Mr Grossi said the IAEA cannot be sure that Iran’s nuclear activities are peaceful until those issues are resolved.
But he said at a press conference after Wednesday’s meeting that he could not force Iran to co-operate.
“It’s their obligation to provide us with information we need and we are trying to find ways and mechanisms. We have been trying to do this for many, many months,” he said.
“So far, we haven’t been very successful.”
The nuclear tension comes against the backdrop of protests in Iran and alleged links to in the war in Ukraine that have further soured relations with the West.
Tehran denies any ambition to develop a nuclear weapon, but in a report to the board on Wednesday, Mr Grossi described increased uranium enrichment by Iran to the level of 60 per cent.
Board members including Britain, France and Germany have said that Iran has no credible civilian need for enrichment at that level.
Mr Grossi said large amounts of data were missing in Iran because IAEA cameras and monitoring equipment had been switched off.
“There is a mass of activity about which we don’t know anything,” he said.
Iran has openly flouted its promises to limit enrichment since the US pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal four years ago.
Talks to revive that deal are at an impasse, with the US saying this week that the pact was not a priority.
“Our focus is not an accord that isn't moving forward, but what is happening in Iran,” Washington’s special envoy for Iran Robert Malley said on Monday.
The US has rejected what it calls unacceptable Iranian attempts to link the deal to the end of the IAEA’s investigation.
Mr Grossi told the 35-member board he had “serious concern that there has been no progress in clarifying and resolving the outstanding safeguard issues during this reporting period”.
“They need to be resolved for the agency to be in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful,” he said.
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TV: World Cup Qualifier 2018 matches will be aired on on OSN Sports HD Cricket channel
How has net migration to UK changed?
The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.
It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.
The total rose to 254,000 in the year to June 2021, followed by steep jumps to 634,000 in the year to June 2022 and 906,000 in the year to June 2023.
The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
The specs: 2018 Nissan Altima
Price, base / as tested: Dh78,000 / Dh97,650
Engine: 2.5-litre in-line four-cylinder
Power: 182hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 244Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Continuously variable tranmission
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.6L / 100km
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Cabriolet
Price, base: Dh429,090
Engine 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission Seven-speed automatic
Power 510hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque 700Nm @ 1,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.2L / 100km
