The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed Monday that the Islamic Republic has stopped participating in efforts to ensure its nuclear program is being used for civilian purposes.
"The agency lost continuity of knowledge in relation to the production and inventory of centrifuges, rotors, and bellows, heavy water, and uranium ore concentrate," the organization’s director, Rafael Grossi, said in a quarterly statement to the governors of the regulatory body.
"There has been no progress in resolving the outstanding safeguards issues," he continued while accusing Tehran of dishonesty about their atomic research activities, noting their years-long failure to clarify the "findings of uranium particles of anthropogenic origin at undeclared locations in Iran."
Grossi told the attendees that he had reached out to the theocracy’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, with the hopes of finding a solution the matter before the United States holds a presidential election in November.
Previous attempts by the United Nations-affiliated bureau have had limited success in persuading the ruling regime to comply with international agreements on monitoring their fissile materials production.
In June, the IAEA adopted a resolution condemning the regime’s persistent refusals to meet Grossi’s requests, and in response, the Islamic Republic expanded its uranium enrichment at two underground facilities.
Last year, Tehran’s leadership expelled one-third of the U.N. inspectors assigned to the country after France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States asked the IAEA to issue a separate censure for non-compliance with inspection mandates.
The difficulties come as Grossi has determined that the regime increased its stockpile of enriched weapons-grade uranium by at least 17 percent this year to more than 360 pounds, an amount the Argentinian diplomat estimates could fabricate seven nuclear weapons in the first month of assembly.
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