Tel Aviv: Russian military officers have visited Iran in recent weeks to help the country in organising its air defences as there are signs that Israel has concrete plans to attack the Iranian nuclear sites.
Last year during Israeli attack on Iranian targets, the Russian made S-300 air defence systems were destroyed.
In the background of all this is the fact that Iran has significantly increased its supply of near-weapons-grade uranium in just three months, according to the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched up to 60% U235 has increased to 275 kg, up from 182 kg in the past quarter,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi in his statement to the agency’s Board of Governors on March 3.
“Iran is the only non-nuclear weapon State enriching to this level, causing me serious concern,” Grossi added.
According to Iran international, the website operated from London by the opposition to the regime in Tehran, the IAEA has argued in the past that there is no credible civilian use for uranium enriched to 60%, which is a short step from weapons-grade 90% enriched fissile material.
US President Donald Trump has demanded Iran end all programs that can enable it to produce nuclear weapons as a pre-condition for an agreement that would lift economic sanctions.
“It is also four years since the Agency was able to conduct complementary access in Iran,” Grossi added in his statement. He said that Iran claims it has declared all of its nuclear material and activities, but “this statement is inconsistent with the Agency’s findings of uranium particles of anthropogenic origin at undeclared locations in Iran.”
The IAEA still does not know “the current location(s) of the nuclear material and/or of contaminated equipment involved,” said the head of the UN nuclear watchdog. Grossi also pointed to an unexplained issue with Iran’s past uranium metal production.
“There is also a discrepancy in the material balance of uranium involved in uranium metal production experiments conducted at Jaber Ibn Hayan Multipurpose Laboratory, for which Iran has not accounted,” he said.
At a press conference in Vienna on March 3 after the IAEA Board of Governors meeting, Grossi stressed the need for Iran to provide answers.
“What we need is real answers (from Iran). What we need is an engagement that is moving forward. We need to stop talking about process and start getting some answers as soon as possible,” he said when asked what the agency expects from Iran.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
