Having crushed during two wars in joint attacks with the Israelis, the latest and most significant chapter of whether there will be peace is whether the regime will allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency access to its nuclear weapons facilities.
Conflicting statements and reports from President Trump and Iran’s foreign ministry suggest the U.N.s IAEA will face the same recalcitrant policy from Tehran it has experienced for two decades in blocking its inspectors from conducting robust verification of the clerical regimes vast nuclear facilities, including underground compounds. The IAEA sticking point might be a deal-breaker for President Trump.
David Albright, who is widely viewed as one of the worlds leading experts on Irans nuclear weapons program, told Fox News Digital the “IAEA comes up short” in its efforts to secure information and verification about Irans nuclear weapons program because “Iran has not cooperated for twenty years.”
Albright, a physicist and president of the Institute for Science and International Security said, “Iran loves to generate plans of action that can be extended” and the process becomes a “pointless exercise.”
For Iran experts like Albright, Irans skill in the art of procrastination has allowed it to decades while working to advance its work on a nuclear weapons device and a missile system to deliver it.
As a result, Albright said “it colors my view of the MOU [Memorandum of Understanding]” agreed to between the U.S. and Iran that codifies IAEA inspections of Irans atomic weapons program.
Albright sees the IAEA as a key test for the success of U.S.-Iran talks. “The way Iran treats the IAEA will tell us if the negotiations are meaningful,” adding that Tehrans regime has treated the IAEA terribly in the past.
The website of the Islamic Republic of Irans Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared in a statement that “Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei, speaking to reporters, denied reports published by certain media outlets claiming that the Islamic Republic of Iran has invited the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect its nuclear facilities.”
A headline in the Islamic Republic News Agency Wednesday stated, “No plan for access to Irans attacked nuclear facilities without final deal, says deputy FM.” The regime-controlled outlet noted that Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi wrote on his X account that no meeting was held with Grossi in Switzerland, despite the IAEA head requesting that Iran meet with him. “There is no plan for access to the facilities that were attacked or to the nuclear materials,” Gharibabadi wrote.
On Friday in Japan, IAEA Director Raphael Grossi told reporters, “This agreement expressly indicates that the nuclear part will be supervised, monitored, by the IAEA.” He added that “a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was subscribed by the two presidents, by President Donald Trump and President Pezeshkian from Iran, and this agreement expressly indicates that the nuclear part will be supervised, monitored, by the IAEA.”Â
He noted that “initial conversations” have started about inspections of Irans nuclear sites. “We hope to be there soon,” he said. It is unclear if Grossi’s team will examine all Iranian nuclear weapons facilities and suspected nuclear sites.
The IAEA declined to answer a detailed Fox News Digital press query on why previous IAEA oversight efforts failed; what would be different this time; whether inspectors can access meaningful sites or only symbolic locations; and would the IAEA focus on access to the Pickaxe Mountain facility versus sites already damaged or buried.
Albright said Israels government has identified ten or more sites where Iran is suspected of
