Atomic watchdog says Iran’s uranium missing as Tehran bans nuclear inspectors

Iran’s parliament votes to ban nuclear inspectors, as the international atomic watchdog chief warns that the whereabouts of enriched uranium stockpile, sufficient for 9 to 10 nuclear warheads, remains unknown. 

By World Israel News Staff

The Iranian parliament voted on Wednesday to ban cooperation with the United Nations agency charged with regulating atomic energy, effectively barring third-party inspections of the Islamic republic’s nuclear facilities, as the agency raises questions regarding the condition and whereabouts of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile.

Alireza Salimi, a spokesman for the Iranian parliament, announced that Iran has outlawed cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), banning their inspectors from entering the country.

Under the legislation passed on Wednesday, the entry of IAEA officials will only be permitted with special approval from the country’s Supreme National Security Council.

The bill was passed a day after IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi warned that the status and location of Iran’s uranium stockpile remain unknown, after Israeli and American warplanes bombed Iranian nuclear facilities during the recent 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran.

Before the outbreak of the war on June 13, the IAEA had estimated that Iran had some 900 pounds of uranium enriched to 60% purity, short of the 90% needed for constructing an atomic bomb, but close enough to potentially be brought to weapons-grade within a matter of months.

That stockpile would be sufficient for 9 to 10 nuclear warheads.

“We do not have information of the whereabouts of this material,” Grossi told Fox News TV on Tuesday.

Following the American airstrikes on the Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz nuclear facilities over the weekend, various reports claimed that Iran had removed its stockpile of enriched uranium hexafluoride from those sites.

“Where is this?” Grossi continued, calling on Iran to renew IAEA inspections. “I think this would be for the benefit of all.”

Grossi confirmed that the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, Iran’s largest, sustained “very serious damage” during the war, after bombings from both Israel and the United States.

He also noted that the Isfahan facility had also been damaged, but emphasized that the site had not been inspected internally to assess the extent of the damage.