BICOM

IAEA Director Yukiya Amano said that the agency continues to have, “serious concerns regarding possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear programme,” at the IAEA’s quarterly board meeting in Vienna on Monday. He said that Iran had failed to respond “in a substantive manner” to the IAEA’s November 2011 report, which spelled out in detail the structure of Iran’s nuclear weapons programme, and had refused access to a key suspected nuclear site at Parchin.

According to the IAEA’s November 2011 report, Iran conducted high explosives test at Parchin, which were strong indicators of nuclear weapons production. He also told journalists that, “We have some indication that activities are ongoing at the Parchin site. It makes us believe that going there sooner is better than later.”

Yamano also expressed concerns about the tripling of the production of 20 percent enriched uranium, a key stage towards producing highly enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb. The scale of this enrichment far outstrips Iran’s peaceful needs. Much of this 20 percent enrichment is taking place in the Fordow facility, built in secret under a mountain near Qom and discovered by Western agencies in 2009.

Amano concluded that, “the Agency is unable to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, and therefore to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities.”