The IAEA warns that Iran continues to increase its reserves of enriched uranium

2023-09-11 16:33:25

The general director ofl International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossiwarned this Monday that Iran continues to increase its reserves of enriched uranium at 60% (close to weapons grade). Furthermore, the UN official explained that there has been no significant progress in getting Tehran to explain in a “credible way” the existence of illicit traces of uranium found in Varamin and Turquzabad”, two undeclared places, as well as their precise location.

Grossi spoke this way on the sidelines of his meetings on the occasion of the IAEA Board of Governors, after the delivery of two reports on the organization’s recent efforts to follow up on the situation in Iran. In this context, the official pointed out that although rhythm enrichment It has decreased, its quantity has increased.

In addition, the official also criticized lack of progress in dialogue with Tehran. “I regret that no further progress has been made in the implementation of the activities set out in the Joint declaration signed in Tehran March 4“, he claimed.

Unchanged situation in Zaporizhzhia

In another section, Grossi assured that the IAEA remains very aware of the war situation in the region Zaporizhiawhere is it located the largest nuclear power plant of Europe, a territory of Ukraine under Russian occupation. “Artillery activity there is constant,” he denounced, before adding that currently IAEA workers only have one “partial” access to the plant.

Even so, the official wanted to emphasize that, although there “the military presencewhich I would say is notorious, is not increasing” and “there is no heavy military equipment.” Along these lines, Grossi implied that this is good news, since “what we want to prevent is that the plant is militarized or becomes a kind of military base“.

Finally, the head of the IAEA lamented the precarious economic situation of his organization, which has not yet received all the money allocated by the countries for the current year. The organization faces a serious “liquidate crisis“, he stated, before highlighting that this is the worst situation of the IAEA since 1995 and warning that operations could be affected in a month if the outstanding contributions, which amount to some 220 million euros, are not paid.