IAEA chief says ‘absolutely won’t’ drop demands for nuclear clarifications from Iran

22 August 2022, 6:44 pm

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In this file photo, taken on September 20, 2021, Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), attends the IAEA General Conference, an annual meeting of all the IAEA member states, at the agency's headquarters in Vienna, Austria. (Joe Klamar/AFP)

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says the UN watchdog will “absolutely not” let up on its demands that Iran provide answers on traces of undeclared nuclear material found in several sites in the country.

“Dropping probes is not something the IAEA does or will ever do,” Raphael Grossi tells CNN. “We have an obligation — a legal obligation — which is to clarify many things that Iran has still to clarify… We have been trying for a long time.”

He adds: “So far, Iran has not given us the technically credible explanations that we need to explain the origin of many traces of uranium, the presence of equipment at places.

“So it’s very simple. Let us have an explanation: If there was nuclear material there, where is it now? If there was equipment there, where is it now? And at that moment we will be able to have a report saying ‘Yes, we have clarified this issue.'”