Is UN nuclear watchdog ‘unwilling or unable’ to punish Iran?

The IAEA is “unable – or unwilling” to address revelations Israel has made about Iran’s nuclear weapons program, experts say. 

By World Israel News Staff 

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations nuclear watchdog entrusted with monitoring Iran’s nuclear program, has shown itself “unwilling or unable” to act against Iran using information provided by the Mossad, Geostrategy-Direct reported Tuesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed in April that his country’s intelligence agency had obtained large amounts of material proving Iran was working toward a nuclear weapon.

In his September address to the U.N. General Assembly, Netanyahu repeated some of the Mossad’s findings and urged the IAEA to “go and inspect this atomic warehouse immediately” before Iran cleaned it out. Netanyahu later called out the IAEA for failing to do so.

The head of the group, Yukiya Amano rejected Netanyahu’s demands, issuing a statement that, “In line with established safeguards practices, all information obtained, including from third parties, is subject to rigorous review and assessed together with other available information to arrive at an independent assessment based on the Agency’s own expertise.”

Geostrategy-Direct notes that this isn’t the first time the nuclear watchdog has ignored Israeli demands to hold Iran’s feet to the fire over its nuclear activity.

Still much unknown

New images and data published by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) in Washington indicate that Iran’s military nuclear program is much further along than previously thought.

According to the newly published information, Iran had set up labs and pressure rooms in a military base in Parchin near Tehran and had conducted experiments there on the explosion chain, a necessary stage in the process of assembling nuclear weapons.

In an analysis of the final IAEA report on the past military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program, David Albright, president of the nonpartisan institute, said that, “Iran did not provide the IAEA with anywhere near a full declaration about its past nuclear weapons related activities, and it did not provide the kind of transparency and cooperation required for the IAEA to conclude its investigation.”

“There is a lot that we don’t know about Iran’s nuclear program. There is a lot we will be unable to know because the deal has too many holes, and the IAEA is unable – or unwilling – to address them,” Joshua S. Block, CEO and president of The Israel Project, wrote for The Hill on Oct. 18.

“The gaps in the IAEA’s knowledge – of Iran’s past nuclear work, of its military sites, of items mentioned in Section T of the nuclear deal, and of the nuclear sites discovered by Israeli intelligence – raise questions about the full extent of Iran’s nuclear program,” Block added.

“This effectively meant the nuclear watchdog was unable to explain in full Iran’s nuclear weapons activities, including verification that Iran’s nuclear program had been completely dismantled,” he wrote.

Geostrategy-Direct contributed to this report.