Iran continues to Block Inspections

Iran’s government continues to stonewall United Nations weapons inspectors, complicating the Obama administration’s effort to forge a nuclear agreement with Tehran by a late-November deadline, according to U.S. and U.N. officials.

The U.S. and the European Union have said Iran’s cooperation with the U.N. in addressing evidence that Tehran conducted studies in the past on the development of atomic weapons is crucial to reaching a broader accord on the future of the Iranian nuclear program.

But Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, said Friday there has been almost no progress in resolving the outstanding allegations of weapons development, despite a year of negotiations with Iranian President Hasan Rouhani ’s government.

The IAEA and Tehran last year outlined 12 areas of concern that needed to be addressed before the agency could close its file on Iran, which has been the target of four rounds of U.N. sanctions. Mr. Amano said there has been significant progress in only one of these areas.

“What is needed now is concrete action,” Mr. Amano said during a speech in Washington. “Progress is limited.”

The IAEA is seeking access to leading Iranian nuclear scientists who are believed to have been involved in nuclear-weapons research.

The agency also is demanding access to Iranian research and military sites. Among them is a military base south of Tehran, called Parchin, where the IAEA and the U.S. believe atomic-weapons development occurred.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

If you like what you see, please "Like" us on Facebook either here or here. Please follow us on Twitter here.