Iran Slams IAEA Head Over Report on Inappropriate Uranium Enrichment

Iran criticized the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog – the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, after the IAEA said in a confidential report that Iran has modified to a substantial degree an interconnection between two centrifuge clusters enriching uranium to up to 60% at the Fordo Fuel Enrichment Plant without first informing the agency. The inspection of Fordo on January 21 was unannounced.

Grossi announced over the weekend that he would visit Iran this month for talks on increasing Iran’s cooperation with the agency as well as encouraging Iran to sign a revised nuclear deal with the world powers.

The confidential IAEA report was reported by the French news agency AFP on Wednesday. The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Mohamad Eslami, said that the IAEA inspector “made a mistake and gave an incorrect report,” according to the state news agency.  Eslami called the release of the IAEA report “unprofessional and unacceptable.”