(Yahoo) Iran closed down its nuclear facilities amid fears of an Israeli attack, the United Nations has revealed.
Inspectors were blocked from the sites on Sunday, Rafael Grossi, the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency chief, said.
The shutdown came as Israel’s war cabinet was locked in talks over how to respond to Iran’s first direct attack on its territory.
There is limited evidence the Islamic Republic wants to create a nuclear bomb, and Israel is not understood to be preparing an imminent attack on nuclear facilities.
But Mr Grossi said UN inspectors in Iran “were informed by the Iranian government that… all the nuclear facilities we are inspecting every day would remain closed on security considerations” following the Iranian strikes.
He added that the facilities reopened on Monday but the inspectors would not be coming back there until some time on Tuesday.
The UN inspections are a legacy of the now defunct Iran nuclear deal, which exchanged sanctions relief for curbs and monitoring of the nuclear programme to prevent Tehran getting the bomb.
Inspectors this year found Iran was scaling up production of nuclear fuel approaching weapons grade uranium.
They also found newly installed equipment, ever faster speeds of uranium enrichment, and a planned expansion to double output.
The country’s Atomic Energy Organisation also used the term “deterrence” in relation to its nuclear programme earlier this year.
Kelsey Davenport, the director for Nonproliferation Policy at the Arms Control Association, said, “Iran is sitting on the threshold of nuclear weapons; it can build a bomb more quickly than at any point in its history.”
Ms Davenport warned that Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities would be “counter-productive”.
“A strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities should be off the table,” she said. “Targeting Iranian nuclear sites in reaction to a drone and missile attack that did minimal damage to Israel would be a reckless and irresponsible escalation that increases the risk of a wider regional war.
“A large-scale attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities is more likely to push Tehran to decide that developing nuclear weapons is necessary to deter future attacks.”
Iranian officials have always insisted that Tehran is pursuing its nuclear programme for civilian needs.
But the Islamic Republic has warned of a “severe” and “painful” response to any Israeli retaliation as the regime’s supporters urged it to build the weapons of mass destruction.
