UN nuke chief frustrated ahead of Iran meetings

Access to Iran tops agenda at IAEA meeting in Vienna

The UN nuclear agency chief is expressing impatience over lack of progress in his agency’s attempts to probe suspected work on nuclear arms by Tehran and says the agency will meet with a senior Iranian envoy.

Yukiya Amano of the International Atomic Energy Agency says the meeting is scheduled for this Friday. While not saying that those talks will focus on the stalled probe, he is invoking a promise he said was made by a senior Iranian official that an agreement relaunching the investigation will be signed soon.

Amano spoke Monday to the agency’s 35-nation board. He also told delegates that his agency needs quick access to the Parchin military facility, the site of such suspected work.

Efforts by the UN’s atomic watchdog to gain access to Iranian nuclear sites will dominate the International Atomic Energy Agency’s meeting in Vienna starting Monday, according to Agence France-Presse.

The agency is looking to get access to a key Iranian military base where suspected nuclear developments were conducted. A meeting between IAEA head Yukiya Amano and Iranian officials in late May reportedly saw the sides come close to a deal, though gaps remain.

Commercial satellite images released May 25 suggested that Iran demolished two buildings at the Parchin military site where it is suspected of trying to erase evidence of a nuclear arms program.

Iran has consistently rejected accusations that it is attempting to erase traces possibly left by secret nuclear work at the Parchin military installation before granting IAEA inspectors permission to visit the facility. The Iranians have contended that radioactive particles, should they exist, could not in fact be cleaned up.

The US and Israel have indicated readiness to attack Iran if diplomacy and sanctions fail to curb its nuclear program. Both suspect that Iran is aiming to build nuclear weapons, and Israel believes it would be a prime target.

The gathering of the IAEA’s 35-member board of governors will be held behind closed doors and is due to go on all week.