Investing.com — Iran is blocking international inspectors from accessing its nuclear facilities, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported on Tuesday, as the country’s six-month conflict with the United States shows no signs of resolution.
IAEA monitors cannot verify the location or status of Iran’s stockpile of near-bomb grade uranium, according to an 11-page restricted document circulated in Vienna.
“The agency’s lack of information about this nuclear material and access to facilities to verify it is a matter of proliferation concern,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi wrote in the report. He added that Iran needs to allow inspectors back in “with the utmost urgency.”
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The report was released as the US launched a new wave of strikes against targets in Iran, increasing tensions as both countries compete for control of the Strait of Hormuz waterway.
The first clashes in about a month occurred on Monday, with neither side willing to give up ground or commit to resuming peace talks. Oil prices have risen this year due to disruptions at the strait, a key transit point for energy supplies.
Grossi repeated his demands for Iran to allow inspectors to resume their work and called for a negotiated resolution to the US-Iran conflict. The agency’s board of governors meets next week in Vienna to consider a new censure resolution against Iran.
IAEA inspections of Iran dropped by more than half last year after the country imposed new restrictions following a 12-day conflict in which Israel and the US attacked its nuclear sites. Monitors have not returned to damaged plants in Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz, where Iran’s 440.9 kilograms of highly enriched uranium and 8,599.6 kilograms of lower enriched material was last observed.
Inspectors will be allowed to visit Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant in mid-September, the IAEA reported.