Bennett Raises Iran Concerns With Visiting U.N. Nuclear Chief

The director of the U.N.’s atomic watchdog arrived in Israel on Thursday and is set to hold talks with top officials.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office said he would meet with Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, on Friday.

The visit comes ahead of a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors set for June 6 to discuss Iran’s nuclear program.

IAEA board members are reportedly angry with Iran following a Wall Street Journal report according to which the Islamic Republic stole IAEA documents containing classified information on expected criticism, allowing the Iranians to cover up their nuclear activity.

A quarterly report by the IAEA released earlier this week stated that Iran had not provided satisfactory answers to its long-standing questions on the origin of uranium particles found at three undeclared sites despite a fresh push for a breakthrough.

The IAEA report detailing Iran’s continued failure to provide credible answers raises pressure on the United States and its allies to take action against the regime at the board meeting since Tehran and the IAEA announced a renewed push in March to clear things up.

“Iran has not provided explanations that are technically credible in relation to the agency’s findings at those locations,” the report said, adding: “The agency remains ready to engage without delay with Iran to resolve all of these matters.”

A separate quarterly IAEA report said Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched to 60%, close to the roughly 90% that is weapons-grade and in a form that can be enriched further, is estimated to have grown by 9.9 kilograms (22 pounds) to 43.1 kilograms (95 pounds).

That amounts to slightly more than what the IAEA calls a “significant quantity,” defined as “the approximate amount of nuclear material for which the possibility of manufacturing a nuclear explosive device cannot be excluded.”

The United States, France, Britain, and Germany are pushing for the international nuclear watchdog’s Board of Governors to rebuke Iran for failing to answer long-standing questions on uranium traces at undeclared sites, according to a draft resolution.

The move is likely to anger Iran, which generally bristles at such resolutions, and that in turn could damage prospects for rescuing the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Indirect talks on that between Iran and the United States are already stalled.

Iran, which insists its nuclear program is peaceful while the West says it is moving closer to being able to build a bomb, would respond to any “unconstructive action” taken at next week’s board meeting, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.