DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency is receiving special police protection from Austria following a threat, the Vienna-based organization acknowledged Wednesday, as its inspectors reportedly returned to Iran to monitor a fuel transfer at the country’s sole nuclear power plant.
The protection for Director-General Rafael Grossi comes as tensions over Iran’s nuclear program are rising again. France, Germany and the United Kingdom appear poised to declare “snapback” — the reimplementation of United Nations sanctions on the Islamic Republic over it not allowing IAEA inspections, and other concerns. Iran has until Aug. 31 to satisfy those concerns.
Questions remain following the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June over the status of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which could be enough for several atomic bombs if Tehran chooses to build them. Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.
Elite police unit guards Grossi
Grossi, who plans to run for United Nations secretary-general, is being protected by an Austrian police Cobra unit.
The elite unit under the Austrian Federal Ministry of Interior mainly handles counterterrorism operations, hostage rescues and responses to mass shootings. It also engages in personal protection and protection of Austrian foreign representations abroad. In Austria, Cobra operatives are known for protecting the president and chancellor as well as the U.S. and Israeli ambassadors.
“We can confirm that Austria provided a Cobra unit but we cannot confirm where the specific threat came from,” IAEA spokesman Fredrik Dahl said.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the additional security for Grossi, an Argentine diplomat who has raised the profile of the IAEA with his trips into Ukraine after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion and the agency’s work on Iran.
Israel attacked Iran in June after the IAEA’s Board of Governors voted to censure Iran over its noncooperation with the agency, the first such censure in 20 years. Iran accused the IAEA, without providing evidence, of aiding Israel and later the United States in its airstrikes targeting its nuclear sites.
Top Iranian officials and Iranian media called for Grossi to be arrested and put on trial if he returned to the country.
IAEA reportedly monitors Bushehr refueling
On Wednesday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said IAEA inspectors were at the Bushehr nuclear power plant to watch a fuel replacement at the facility, according to a report by the state-run IRNA news agency.
The IAEA has not acknowledged the inspectors’ presence.
Bushehr is run with the support of Russian technicians.
Araghchi reportedly cautioned that didn’t represent any breakthrough on the IAEA visiting other sites. A parliamentary law blocked Iran’s government from cooperating with the IAEA until the agency offered security guarantees following the war with Israel.
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Liechtenstein reported from Vienna. Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. ___ Additional AP coverage of the nuclear landscape: https://apnews.com/projects/the-new-nuclear-landscape/
