New IAEA Head Assumes Post, Says Iran Must Account for Uranium Traces at Undeclared Site
IsraelDefense
| 04/12/2019
IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi (Photo: AP)
Rafael Grossi, a 58-year-old diplomat from Argentina, took over as director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday.
The nuclear nonproliferation expert, who had served as Argentina’s ambassador to the IAEA, is the first South American to head the agency.
In an interview with the Associated Press, the new director-general said Iran still has to answer for the discovery of uranium particles at an undeclared site near Tehran.
The United States and Israel had been pressing the IAEA to look into Iran’s Turquzabad facility, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described to the UN in 2018 as a “secret atomic warehouse.”
In November, the agency confirmed that its inspectors had found uranium of man-made origin “at a location in Iran not declared to the agency.”
Grossi said the agency is still in talks with Iran about the discovery, and that it is “not a closed matter.”
“The process continues. We have so far not received an entirely satisfactory reply from them, but the exchanges continue,” he said.
[Sources: AP, JNS, Reuters]
IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi (Photo: AP)
Rafael Grossi, a 58-year-old diplomat from Argentina, took over as director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday.
The nuclear nonproliferation expert, who had served as Argentina’s ambassador to the IAEA, is the first South American to head the agency.
In an interview with the Associated Press, the new director-general said Iran still has to answer for the discovery of uranium particles at an undeclared site near Tehran.
The United States and Israel had been pressing the IAEA to look into Iran’s Turquzabad facility, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described to the UN in 2018 as a “secret atomic warehouse.”
In November, the agency confirmed that its inspectors had found uranium of man-made origin “at a location in Iran not declared to the agency.”
Grossi said the agency is still in talks with Iran about the discovery, and that it is “not a closed matter.”
“The process continues. We have so far not received an entirely satisfactory reply from them, but the exchanges continue,” he said.
[Sources: AP, JNS, Reuters]
