Iran cancels accreditation of UN nuclear inspector as it restarts uranium enrichment

Iran has stripped a UN nuclear watchdog inspector of accreditation after the international official reportedly tried to carry “suspicious materials” inside one of the Iranian nuclear sites she was scheduled to inspect.

Permission to visit the sites was revoked from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspector after she was caught trying to enter the Natanz uranium enrichment facility carrying “suspicious materials,” according to Iran’s national atomic agency.

With no access to the sites, her mission to monitor Iran’s nuclear program was impossible to execute, so she left the country on Wednesday, Iranian media said.

According to Reuters, the inspector was briefly detained after being stopped from entering the facility, and her travel documents were seized for a period of time.

It was not immediately clear what the inspector was accused of trying to bring inside the Natanz site, although the Iranians said she was “scanned” and that a “security control machine” sounded the alarm.

The incident apparently happened last week, days before Iran announced its latest step in rolling back its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal. Tehran said it will now be enriching uranium to five percent at its Fordow nuclear facility. The move is the latest in a series taken by Iran this year in response to the US abandoning the deal in 2018.

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