Gantz also unveiled a map detailing 10 facilities in Syria allegedly used to arm Iran and its proxies, including Hezbollah. He said the facilities represented a threat to Israel’s security. Iran, for its part, claimed to have built a stealth drone that could hit major Israeli cities. At the same time, the head of the UN nuclear inspectorate, Rafael Grossi, said it would be extremely difficult to restore the knowledge his organization had lost about Iran’s nuclear activities due to Iran’s blockade of its inspectors and cameras. He was speaking at the start of a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s governing board in Vienna, where he argued that Iran was not cooperating with its investigation into traces of nuclear particles found at three sites before 2013, a discovery that suggests Iran may at one point they have run a covert nuclear program. Iran has requested a formal halt to the IAEA investigation as part of any deal to revive the nuclear deal signed in 2015, from which the US withdrew in 2018. Talks on the deal have stalled. France, Germany and the UK issued a statement over the weekend saying they could not offer any more concessions to the revival talks, adding: “Iran’s latest demand raises serious doubts about Iran’s intentions and commitment to a successful outcome of the talks ». But the three are unlikely to table a new resolution of censure this week after the previous IAEA board meeting in June voted to condemn Iran’s lack of cooperation. Iran wants the investigation formally withdrawn, arguing that it is politically inspired by Israel to bring up old issues. But Grossi replied: “That is very simple. We found traces of uranium in places that were never declared, that were never supposed to have had nuclear activity, and we’re asking questions. Explain to me why this is a political activity.’ It is widely believed that the US would prefer to hold off on the Iran issue until mid-term elections in November, but one of the most informed think tanks on the nuclear deal, the International Crisis Group, said in a new report that the situation could to escape. of control. He said there is little room for Iran to escalate without being able to produce fissile material for weapons within days. The US has steadily increased sanctions against Iran, while Tehran, according to the IAEA, has increased its nuclear stockpile and use of advanced centrifuges. The Crisis Group suggested that the two sides should, in an effort to buy time, discuss the possibility of one-measure commitments, such as an agreement on the humanitarian release of dual-national prisoners, while respecting each other’s red lines on deterring nuclear and regional escalation. Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, is set to travel to New York next week for the UN general assembly if the US grants him a visa.
