IAEA Chief Warns: Iran Not 'Completely Transparent' About Nuclear Program

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear oversight body, warned on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic of Iran is 'not completely transparent' regarding its nuclear program; especially as one of the officials who once led the nuclear program in the Islamic Republic has stated that Tehran has 'all the components of nuclear weapons in its hands.' According to the Associated Press, Rafael Grossi, the IAEA Director General, referenced recent comments by Ali Akbar Salehi during a global government leaders' summit in Dubai. Ali Akbar Salehi, former Foreign Minister and former head of the Islamic Republic's Atomic Energy Organization, recently implied in a television program that Tehran possesses 'the necessary capability to build a nuclear bomb.' Following the collapse of its 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers, the Islamic Republic has advanced its nuclear enrichment close to weapon-grade levels. Tehran has accumulated enough enriched uranium and could potentially build several weapons if it desired. In the television program 'Bermuda,' Salehi stated in response to a question from Kamran Najafzadeh, a controversial former journalist of the Islamic Republic's state media, regarding the ability to build a nuclear bomb: 'We currently have all the thresholds of nuclear science and technology.' However, U.S. intelligence agencies and some others assess that the Islamic Republic has not yet initiated a weapons program. The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security reported in a study published in February of this year that the Iranian government could build a nuclear bomb in a week and six bombs in a month. Efforts to normalize nuclear bomb construction; Ali Akbar Salehi: We have all the thresholds of nuclear science and technology. Criticism from the head of the Islamic Republic's Atomic Energy Organization against the IAEA; they do not cooperate with us. The U.S. Department of Justice reported the arrest of several individuals on charges of illegally transferring technology to the Islamic Republic and China.