Iran rebuffs U.N. watchdog on resuming nuke inspections

BRUSSELS — In what could be an ill omen for the resumption of talks next week on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Wednesday that he had failed to convince Iran to replace key equipment needed to monitor its nuclear program.

The agency is charged by the United Nations with monitoring nuclear activity among member states. Its inspectors and cameras have been the prime source of information about Iran’s atomic program, which many in the West believe is coming ever closer to having the know-how and material to fashion a nuclear weapon, despite Iran’s repeated insistence of peaceful intent.

The agency’s directorgeneral, Rafael Grossi, told a quarterly meeting of its board of governors in Geneva that two days of talks in Tehran had not produced an agreement to reinstall surveillance cameras at a centrifuge-parts workshop in Karaj, Iran. The workshop was the target of apparent sabotage in June, an attack that Iran blames on Israel.

After what he called intense negotiations, Grossi told reporters, “We could not agree yesterday, in spite of my best efforts.” He vowed to continue trying, saying, “We must reach an agreement.”

The Karaj factory is once again producing parts for centrifuges, which enrich uranium, but without monitoring by the agency. In September, Iran had reached an agreement with Grossi to allow agency inspectors access to monitoring devices, including cameras with full memory cards and automated measuring devices under seal, in various nuclear facilities. But Iran has since denied inspectors access to change the memory cards and retrieve the data.

Grossi said that talks with Iran would continue, but that time was running out.

“We are close to the point where I would not be able to guarantee continuity of knowledge” of activities at the workshop, he said, adding that the information is “widely recognized as essential in relation to a return” to the 2015 nuclear deal that put tough limits on Iran’s nuclear enrichment and

other activities.