Officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are scheduled to meet with US counterparts in Washington next week amid mounting alarm over the agency's inability to confirm the fate of Iran's near-weapons grade uranium, diplomats told Bloomberg.
The talks come after chief inspector Massimo Aparo, acting under the direction of IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, failed to secure Tehran's consent to reinstate monitoring following the June war between Israel and Iran, three diplomats said to Bloomberg.
According to Bloomberg, the IAEA has become increasingly discouraged about prospects of returning inspectors since they were expelled during the June hostilities, a step that ended global monitoring of the scope and intent of Tehran's nuclear work.
Iran maintains that chemical and radiological dangers at bomb-damaged facilities make it impossible for inspectors to return. On August 11, Tehran told Aparo that visits might soon be allowed at unaffected sites, including the Russian-built nuclear power station on the Persian Gulf, but barred access to its main fuel facility, Bloomberg reported.
In remarks to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi said, "We have not reached the point of cutting off cooperation with the agency, but future cooperation will certainly not resemble the past." His comments were cited by Bloomberg.
IAEA figures compiled by Bloomberg show that the location of 409 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent has been unknown since June 13, when Iran advised inspectors it intended to relocate the material to an undisclosed location. The failure to verify this stockpile has amplified questions about whether airstrikes destroyed Tehran's nuclear weapons potential.
Although satellite images suggest that parts of the enrichment system were "obliterated," as US President Donald Trump has repeatedly declared, Iran still possesses the material and the know-how to build nuclear arms should Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei decide, Bloomberg noted.
Tehran insists its nuclear work is not military, and both IAEA inspectors and US intelligence agencies have affirmed that no active weapons program has existed since the early 2000s, according to Bloomberg.
Diplomats told Bloomberg that the IAEA is preparing a portfolio of past inspector deployments in hazardous areas, including Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster and war-torn Ukraine, to demonstrate that safety concerns should not prevent inspections in Iran.
The Washington consultations are set against a looming European deadline. EU powers have warned that unless Iran resumes negotiations and allows inspections by the end of August, they will seek to reimpose UN sanctions. Iran rejected the warning, calling it unlawful and cautioning it may withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Bloomberg reported.
Absent a breakthrough, diplomats warned the agency's knowledge of Iran's program will deteriorate further. Last year, 274 inspectors carried out almost 500 inspections, keeping precise records of uranium, but many are now being reassigned, according to Bloomberg.
Financial strains are also growing. Member states are hesitant to provide additional funds, and one diplomat said questions are being raised about how the $23 million requested by Grossi for Iran monitoring would be used if no inspections occur, Bloomberg added.
