Bloomberg reports that Iran—despite recent Israeli and US airstrikes—continues to refuse cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), ignoring international calls to allow inspectors back into the country and resume nuclear negotiations.
According to the report, the status of Iran’s nuclear program — especially the unknown location of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium stockpiles — is at the top of the agenda for this week’s Board of Governors oversight meeting in Vienna.
Three Western diplomats told the news agency that European countries are preparing new guidelines for inspectors to assess the state of Tehran’s nuclear inventory. A senior diplomat told Bloomberg that the agency is “ready for an immediate inspection” of Iranian sites, but Tehran claims the locations are unsafe following recent airstrikes.
The diplomat added that Iran may hope that a “information blackout” will delay further attacks — yet such uncertainty could push the countries that carried out the strikes to consider continuing their operations.