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.

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Israel rebuffed as "unworthy" on Sunday comments by the international nuclear watchdog chief that any Israeli or US attack on Iran's nuclear facilities would be illegal.

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Having visited Tehran in a bid to loosen deadlocked talks on renewing its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Raphael Grossi on Saturday said "any military attack on nuclear facilities is outlawed".

Video: Reuters / Netanyahu rebuffs IAEA chief's remarks against a possible attack on Iran

He was responding to a reporter's question about threats by Israel and the United States to attack Iran's nuclear facilities if they deem diplomacy meant to deny it the bomb to be at a dead end. Tehran says its nuclear program is peaceful.

"Rafael Grossi is a worthy person who made an unworthy remark," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet in televised remarks on Sunday.

"Outside what law? Is it permissible for Iran, which openly calls for our destruction, to organize the tools of slaughter for our destruction? Are we forbidden from defending ourselves? We are obviously permitted to do this."

The IAEA said on Saturday Grossi had received sweeping assurances from Iran that it will assist a long-stalled investigation into uranium particles found at undeclared sites and re-install removed monitoring equipment.

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The post 'Are we forbidden from defending ourselves?', Netanyahu asks IAEA chief appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

In his first day as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi said that the organization has been "in conversation" with Iran about the discovery and that it is "not a closed matter."

"The process continues," he said. "We have so far not received an entirely satisfactory reply from them, but the exchanges continue."

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The US and Israel had been pressing the IAEA for some time to look into the Turquzabad facility, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described to the UN in 2018 as a "secret atomic warehouse."

In November, the agency confirmed that its inspectors had found uranium of man-made origin "at a location in Iran not declared to the agency."

Israel has alleged that material at the site came from an Iranian military program involving work on nuclear weapons and was subsequently cleared out. Iran denies pursuing nuclear weapons and says its program is peaceful.

Responding to criticism that the IAEA dragged its feet in the investigation, Grossi acknowledged that the matter is urgent because samples can degrade.

"The timely response to our questions is very important," he added.

Grossi, a 58-year-old Argentine diplomat, succeeded Yukiya Amano, who died in July. He takes over for a four-year term at a time when the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers is unraveling.

The landmark 2015 deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action promised Iran economic incentives in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. The IAEA's role has been to inspect and verify Iran's compliance with the deal.

With the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the agreement last year and the imposition of new US sanctions, Iran's economy has struggled. So far, the other nations involved – France, Germany, Britain, China, and Russia – have been unable to offset the effects, and Iran has slowly been violating the terms of the JCPOA.

Amid the economic discontent, many Iranians have taken to the streets recently to protest rising gasoline prices, and the Iranian government has cracked down violently, killing more than 200 people.

Despite the unrest, Grossi said his agency's inspectors have still been able to carry out their work, and Iran has been providing access to nuclear facilities.

"There have been certain issues, but we have been working reasonably well," Grossi said. "Necessary precautions are imposed because of the situation but we are working."

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