Iran is pushing ahead with its nuclear program in defiance of tougher sanctions, the UN atomic watchdog said in a new report that Washington called “troubling,” but Tehran dismissed as “not balanced.”
The confidential report, obtained by reporters on Monday, says the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) remains concerned about possible work in Iran to develop a nuclear-armed missile.
The IAEA also warned that Iranian refusal to accept some of the agency’s choices of nuclear inspectors was hampering its activities in the Islamic republic, which rejects Western accusations it is seeking to build nuclear bombs.
“This is a pretty critical report and it seems the sides have reached an impasse,” said David Albright, head of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security.
The US said it showed that Tehran was still trying to develop a nuclear weapons capability.
“The IAEA’s reports of obstruction and Iran’s failure to cooperate are troubling to all who care about non-proliferation and global security,” White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said.
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s envoy to the IAEA, said the report by new agency chief Yukiya Amano “has damaged the agency’s technical reputation” and was “not balanced” compared to those of his predecessor, Mohamed ElBaradei.
He said all of Iran’s nuclear activities were under the IAEA’s “complete supervision,” Mehr News Agency reported.
The eight-year international dispute over Iran’s atomic activities has the potential to set off a regional arms race and spark a conflict in the Middle East.
The West hopes the imposition since June of additional UN, US and European sanctions on the country will persuade the Iranian leadership to back down and halt sensitive atomic work. Iran has repeatedly rejected such demands and is sending mixed signals about its readiness to negotiate with the West, offering unconditional talks on a plan to swap nuclear fuel, but setting terms for any broader discussions.
The IAEA report voiced concern about what it called Iran’s “repeated” objections to its appointments of inspectors, saying this “hampers the inspection process” and effectiveness of its work in the Islamic state.
Tehran barred two UN nuclear inspectors from entering in June, accusing them of reporting wrongly that some equipment was missing. There have been similar cases in the past.
A diplomat familiar with the IAEA’s Iran investigation said this increased “pressure” on the inspectors.
Albright said: “It shows the erosion of the IAEA’s ability to do its job.”
The IAEA for years has been investigating Western intelligence reports indicating Iran has coordinated efforts to process uranium, to stage missile tests and to revamp a ballistic missile cone in a way suitable for a nuclear warhead.
Tehran says the intelligence is forged, but its record of secrecy has stoked suspicions, heightened by the launch in February of higher-grade uranium enrichment of 20 percent fissile purity, bringing it closer to weapons-grade material.
The IAEA said Iran had produced about 2.8 tonnes of low-enriched uranium (LEU), up from 2.4 tonnes in May, as well as 22kg of the higher-grade material.
In the sweltering streets of Jakarta, buskers carry towering, hollow puppets and pass around a bucket for donations. Now, they fear becoming outlaws. City authorities said they would crack down on use of the sacred ondel-ondel puppets, which can stand as tall as a truck, and they are drafting legislation to remove what they view as a street nuisance. Performances featuring the puppets — originally used by Jakarta’s Betawi people to ward off evil spirits — would be allowed only at set events. The ban could leave many ondel-ondel buskers in Jakarta jobless. “I am confused and anxious. I fear getting raided or even
Kemal Ozdemir looked up at the bare peaks of Mount Cilo in Turkey’s Kurdish majority southeast. “There were glaciers 10 years ago,” he recalled under a cloudless sky. A mountain guide for 15 years, Ozdemir then turned toward the torrent carrying dozens of blocks of ice below a slope covered with grass and rocks — a sign of glacier loss being exacerbated by global warming. “You can see that there are quite a few pieces of glacier in the water right now ... the reason why the waterfalls flow lushly actually shows us how fast the ice is melting,” he said.
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
RESTRUCTURE: Myanmar’s military has ended emergency rule and announced plans for elections in December, but critics said the move aims to entrench junta control Myanmar’s military government announced on Thursday that it was ending the state of emergency declared after it seized power in 2021 and would restructure administrative bodies to prepare for the new election at the end of the year. However, the polls planned for an unspecified date in December face serious obstacles, including a civil war raging over most of the country and pledges by opponents of the military rule to derail the election because they believe it can be neither free nor fair. Under the restructuring, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is giving up two posts, but would stay at the
RSS