Vienna (Austria), Nov. 12 (LaPresse/AP) – The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been unable to verify the status of Iran’s stocks of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels for months, since Israel attacked the country’s nuclear sites during the 12-day war last June. This is stated in a confidential report from the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, distributed to member states and reviewed today by Associated Press. The IAEA states that the issue of the stocks of material almost usable for military purposes "needs to be addressed urgently." According to the IAEA’s last report in September, Iran holds stocks amounting to 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched up to 60% purity, which is, from a technical point of view, one step away from the 90% level required for military purposes. The IAEA director general, Rafael Grossi, said in a recent interview with Associated Press that such a stockpile could allow Iran, if it decided to weaponize its program, to build up to 10 nuclear bombs, but clarified that this does not mean that Iran already possesses such weapons. Iran has long insisted that its program is peaceful, but the IAEA and Western countries claim that Tehran had an organized military nuclear program up until 2003. The confidential IAEA report also states that Iran has not yet granted the International Atomic Energy Agency access to the sites hit during the war. Iran suspended all cooperation with the IAEA after the war with Israel, during which the United States struck several Iranian nuclear sites. However, Tehran has allowed the IAEA to inspect undamaged facilities after Grossi reached an agreement with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Cairo at the beginning of September.
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