The failure of a team of the International Atomic Energy Agency to break fresh ground during its recent visit to Iran is along expected lines given that Tehran has been consistently intransigent in opening up its nuclear facilities for inspection and coming clean on its nuclear ambitions. Tehran blocked the IAEA mission from accessing the country’s military site, Parchin, which is said to be used for conducting tests that could trigger a nuclear explosion. If Iran has nothing to hide since its nuclear programme is entirely for “peaceful purposes”, as it has been repeatedly saying, why did it not allow the IAEA team to visit the site? As a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it is not supposed to sabotage such inspections . Not only did Iran refuse access to the site, it also did not allow the team to interview scientists involved in the programme. There is clearly more than meets the eye. Iran’s stubbornness and this failed visit of the nuclear inspection agency has left the US-led West with no option but to further tighten the sanctions that it has imposed on the Persian nation — and perhaps at some stage take a more proactive action. What that action will be is difficult to quantify at this stage, but it is becoming increasing clear that some of the countries that have been following with alarm Iran’s progress in its nuclear programme are itching to pull the trigger — and they will find even more reason to do so after the latest fiasco. There is no war yet, but the drumbeat of war can be heard from all sides. Fars news agency of Iran has quoted the deputy head of the Islamic republic’s Armed Forces, Mohammed Hejazi, as saying that Iran would act without waiting for the “actions” of its enemies. There cannot have been a less veiled threat than that. On the other side, countries like Israel, whom Tehran wants to eliminate, have been as belligerent. They have pointed out that concrete action must be taken against Iran here and now, because further delay in doing so will enable that country to place its nuclear programme in an irreversible position. This confrontation is going to be played out in the months to come. Tehran will be responsible for the rising friction because it has refused to be transparent on the issue of developing its nuclear prowess.
On its part, Iran is trying to squeeze out of the grim situation by saying the IAEA mission was not really an “inspection team” but a group of “experts” that had come to engage the country in a “constructive” fashion. But even those “experts” got the cold shoulder from Iran. The failure of the mission has been stark enough for the IAEA to issue a glum statement within hours of the team rounding up its visit. With this being the second failed visit of an IAEA team to Iran within a month, there appears to be little common ground that Iran and much of the world can find in the coming months.
