IAEA Warns Over Iran Access
IAEA head Rafael Grossi warned that the watchdog still has no access to Iranian nuclear facilities, after US President Donald Trump warned that the US may hit the ‘Pickaxe Mountain’ facility.
“There’s no engagement, there is no information, and we are being told that they are not going to cooperate until there is some agreement in the wider political negotiation that they are having,” he explained at a press conference in Vienna on Monday.
“Iran, of course, continues to be an NPT member state, and they have obligations,” he continued, adding that talks in Cairo demonstrated the watchdog has done ‘everything’ to engage with Tehran while acknowledging the ‘special circumstances’.
He said that Trump’s threat on Friday that the US could bomb the underground ‘Pickaxe Mountain’ facility near Natanz ‘very soon’ and ‘very hard’ was a ‘national decision’. The site allegedly contains centrifuges and an enriched uranium stockpile.
Grossi Calls For Diplomacy
“I believe in diplomatic solutions for things. But we need engagement,” he added. “If we can start getting access, addressing their security, confidentiality points, I am sure and I can guarantee to you that this will have a very, very positive repercussion that will allow others to consider that we have a process, IAEA-Iran, that needs to be protected, that needs to be supported. And this will help peace and not war.”
This comes after Grossi stated on June 8 that ‘the channel of communication is broken’, with the IAEA having no access to Iran’s ‘crucial’ nuclear facilities for almost a year since the Iran-Israel twelve-day war in 2025.
Iran has remained very critical of the IAEA and suspended cooperation with the agency in July 2025 after the 12-day war, while it later allowed the IAEA to inspect nuclear sites unaffected by that conflict.
Syria Nuclear Evidence Revealed
Grossi further responded to a question over 73 tonnes of verified natural uranium metal discovered in Syria that had allegedly been part of an Assad ‘clandestine nuclear programme’.
He described it as ‘historic’ but nevertheless a ‘very serious proliferation concern’, stating it was ‘obvious’ that the programme was ‘clandestine’.
“I cannot judge intentions, but it is very clear that these activities, first of all, were not declared, so they didn’t want the world to know what they were doing. And we know, given the configuration, the technical features of that type of reactor, is that this is a reactor that is very efficient in the production of fissile material that could be used directly for the fabrication of nuclear weapons,” he explained.
Grossi added that much of the evidence that could provide answers had been destroyed, adding that a ‘very meticulous safeguards reconstruction’ would take place.
“It is very possible or cannot be excluded, that the then-Syrian authorities also performed some explosions in order to, I would say, blur the situation and hinder any possibility of an investigation that could prove with more accuracy what was there,” he noted.
IAEA Seeks Nuclear Safeguards
On Syria’s plans for handling the materials, Grossi declared it a ‘political decision that they will make’ and noted that Damascus has held discussions with other governments over a possible export arrangement.
“For us, what is important is that the material, now that it has been discovered, remains under safeguards from the – from us, from the IAEA,” he added.
This comes after Damascus contacted the IAEA on July 17 to disclose the location of a facility, where the watchdog reportedly uncovered 55 tonnes of processed fuel rods and 18 tonnes of other uranium materials. Grossi stated that the material was connected to the Al Kibar reactor facility in Deir ez-Zor province destroyed in a 2007 Israeli airstrike. The Assad administration denied the presence of a nuclear facility at the site, however the IAEA reported that it had uncovered an ‘almost completed’ reactor at the site.
IAEA, via Viory.Video
More from Wake Up Singapore:
Sanctions only exacerbate tensions and escalate! – Beijing warns Trump on ‘economic D-Day’ for Iran
If you have a story or a tip-off, email admin@wakeup.sg or get in touch via Whatsapp at 8882 5913.
Interested in advertising on our media channels? Reach out to us at admin@wakeup.sg!
Since you have made it to the end of the article, follow Wake Up Singapore on Telegram and X!
Wake Up Singapore is a volunteer-run site that covers alternative views in Singapore. If you want to volunteer with us, sign up here!
