VIENNA: Iran is enriching uranium to close to weapons-grade at a steady pace while discussions aimed at improving its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog are stalled, two confidential reports by the watchdog showed on Monday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency faces a range of difficulties in Iran, including the fact it only implemented a small fraction of the steps IAEA chief Rafael Grossi thought it committed to in a “Joint Statement” on cooperation last year.
“There has been no progress in the past year toward implementing the Joint Statement of 4 March 2023,” one of the two reports to member states, both of which were seen by Reuters, said.
Grossi traveled to Iran this month for talks with Iranian officials aimed at improving cooperation and IAEA monitoring in Iran. Follow-up talks have stalled, however, after the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last week.
“The Director General reiterates to the new government of Iran his call for, and disposition to continue with, the high-level dialogue and ensuing technical exchanges commenced ... on 6-7 May 2024,” the report added.
It is 18 months since the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors last passed a resolution against Iran, ordering it to cooperate urgently with a years-long IAEA investigation into uranium particles found at three undeclared sites.
While the number of sites has since been reduced to two, Iran has still not explained how the traces got there.
“The Director General regrets that the outstanding safeguards issues have not been resolved,” the report said, referring to those traces.
France and Britain are pushing for a new resolution at next week’s Board meeting, which the United States has so far not supported, diplomats say. Iran usually bristles at such resolutions, taking nuclear-related steps in response.
The other report said Iran’s stock of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent purity, close to the roughly 90 percent of weapons-grade, grew by 20.6 kg over the quarter to 142.1 kg as of May 11, and Iran later diluted 5.9 kg to a lower enrichment level.
That means Iran now has roughly enough material enriched to up to 60 percent purity, if enriched further, for three nuclear weapons in theory, according to an IAEA yardstick. It has enough for more at lower enrichment levels.
Western powers say there is no credible civil reason for Iran to enrich to that level. Iran says its aims are peaceful.
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Iran’s near-bomb-grade uranium stock grows, talks stall, IAEA reports say
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Iran’s near-bomb-grade uranium stock grows, talks stall, IAEA reports say
- Grossi traveled to Iran this month for talks with Iranian officials aimed at improving cooperation and IAEA monitoring in Iran
- Follow-up talks have stalled, however, after the death of Iranian President Raisi in a helicopter crash last week
Series of Israeli strikes hit Lebanon
BEIRUT: A series of Israeli strikes hit south and east Lebanon on Friday, state media reported, as Israel’s army said it was targeting Hezbollah sites, the latest such raids despite a year-old ceasefire.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported strikes in around a dozen locations, including up to around 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, citing at times “heavy raids.”
Israel has kept up strikes on Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire that was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, and has also kept troops in five areas it deems strategic.
The Israeli military said in a statement that its forces “struck a training and qualification compound” used by Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force where operatives “underwent shooting exercises and additional training on the use of various types of weapons.”
The army also “struck additional Hezbollah military infrastructure in several areas in southern Lebanon,” it said.
According to the ceasefire, Hezbollah was required to pull its forces north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers from the border with Israel, and have its military infrastructure there dismantled.
Under a government-approved plan, Lebanon’s army is to dismantle Hezbollah’s military infrastructure south of the Litani by the end of the year, before tackling the rest of the country.
The sites struck on Friday were generally north of the river.
Earlier this week, Israel launched a series of strikes on southern Lebanon, also saying it hit a Hezbollah training center and other targets.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported strikes in around a dozen locations, including up to around 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, citing at times “heavy raids.”
Israel has kept up strikes on Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire that was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, and has also kept troops in five areas it deems strategic.
The Israeli military said in a statement that its forces “struck a training and qualification compound” used by Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force where operatives “underwent shooting exercises and additional training on the use of various types of weapons.”
The army also “struck additional Hezbollah military infrastructure in several areas in southern Lebanon,” it said.
According to the ceasefire, Hezbollah was required to pull its forces north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers from the border with Israel, and have its military infrastructure there dismantled.
Under a government-approved plan, Lebanon’s army is to dismantle Hezbollah’s military infrastructure south of the Litani by the end of the year, before tackling the rest of the country.
The sites struck on Friday were generally north of the river.
Earlier this week, Israel launched a series of strikes on southern Lebanon, also saying it hit a Hezbollah training center and other targets.
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