IAEA Inspects Second Suspected Atomic Site in Iran

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters is pictured in Vienna, Austria September 26, 2017. (Reuters)
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters is pictured in Vienna, Austria September 26, 2017. (Reuters)
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IAEA Inspects Second Suspected Atomic Site in Iran

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters is pictured in Vienna, Austria September 26, 2017. (Reuters)
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters is pictured in Vienna, Austria September 26, 2017. (Reuters)

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA has inspected the second of two suspected former secret atomic sites in Iran, as agreed with Tehran last month, the agency said on Wednesday.

The UN nuclear watchdog has not named either of the two undeclared sites but it has described activities it suspects took place there in 2003, the year when it and US intelligence services believe Iran halted a secret and coordinated nuclear weapons program.

Although the IAEA said it has the power to carry out snap inspections anywhere in Iran it deems necessary, Tehran had denied it access to the two sites for seven months until the deal was struck for access on specific dates this month.

“As part of an agreement with Iran to resolve safeguards implementation issues specified by the IAEA, the Agency this week conducted a complementary access at the second location in the country and took environmental samples,” the IAEA said in a statement, Reuters reported.

Those samples and others taken at the first site will be sent to labs and analyzed for traces of nuclear material, since the agency’s main task is to account for all nuclear material in a country to ensure it is not being used to make weapons.

Iran denies ever having had a nuclear weapons program.

It could take several months for the results of the sample analysis to be available.

Iran has denounced “attempts to open an endless process of verifying and cleaning-up of ever-continuing fabricated allegations,” strongly suggesting the IAEA was seeking access based on information Israel said it seized from Iran.



Frontex: Irregular Migrant Crossings Into EU Drop 20% in 2025

11 June 2025, United Kingdom, Dover: A group of people, believed to be migrants, are brought into Dover by a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the Channel. Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire/dpa
11 June 2025, United Kingdom, Dover: A group of people, believed to be migrants, are brought into Dover by a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the Channel. Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire/dpa
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Frontex: Irregular Migrant Crossings Into EU Drop 20% in 2025

11 June 2025, United Kingdom, Dover: A group of people, believed to be migrants, are brought into Dover by a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the Channel. Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire/dpa
11 June 2025, United Kingdom, Dover: A group of people, believed to be migrants, are brought into Dover by a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the Channel. Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire/dpa

The number of irregular migrant crossings into the European Union dropped by 20 percent in the first five months of the year, the EU's border agency said Wednesday.

Warsaw-based Frontex said that a total of 63,700 crossings were detected this year, adding that the main nationalities were Afghan, Bangladeshi and Malian.

The biggest decreases in irregular crossings were seen in the Western Balkans (minus 56 percent), the western African route (minus 35 percent) and the eastern Mediterranean (minus 30 percent).

There was also a seven percent decrease in migrant crossings from Belarus into Poland and the Baltics to 5,062 crossings, Frontex said.

But it pointed to a slight increase of seven percent in the number of migrants crossing the central Mediterranean towards Italy.

Frontex also said that the number of migrants attempting to cross into Britain via the Channel increased by 17 percent to 25,540 compared to the first five months of 2024.

"Smuggling networks operating in the area are adapting, using simultaneous departures to increase the number of successful crossings," AFP quoted it as saying.

Irregular migration has become a political flashpoint across Europe, as seen most recently in the Polish presidential election on June 1 which was won by a nationalist promising to crack down on immigration.

Irregular border crossings detected into the European Union were down 38 percent to 239,000 last year after an almost 10-year peak in 2023, according to EU border agency Frontex.

But, led by hawks including Italy and Denmark, EU leaders called in October for urgent new legislation to increase and speed up returns and for the commission to assess "innovative" ways to counter irregular migration.