Gaza War Leaves West Hesitant over Iran Nuclear Program

Quarterly meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (File photo: IAEA)
Quarterly meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (File photo: IAEA)
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Gaza War Leaves West Hesitant over Iran Nuclear Program

Quarterly meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (File photo: IAEA)
Quarterly meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (File photo: IAEA)

The Iranian nuclear escalation raises serious concerns in light of the exclusion of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors and the suspension of surveillance cameras.

However, Western countries are hesitant to get tough on Tehran for fear of aggravating Middle East tensions.

"The picture is pretty bleak, but the fact at the moment is that there is no appetite to provoke a reaction in Iran in the context of the war in the Middle East," a senior diplomat said, summing up the current deadlock.

At this week's IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, the US and the E3 group, France, Germany, and the UK condemned Tehran's lack of cooperation but refrained from submitting a binding resolution.

However, US Ambassador Laura Holgate said, "Iran's actions have intensified tensions and pushed unprecedented boundaries."

Similarly, the French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Anne-Claire Legendre, expressed concern about the unjustified nuclear escalation.

- "Serious blow"

In 2018, the international agreement collapsed after former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal that restricted Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.

Later, President Joe Biden sought to revive the agreement through negotiations in Vienna, but they have stopped since the summer of 2022.

The results reached by the UN body remain clear. It is reported that Iran currently possesses 1,283 kilograms of 60 percent enriched uranium, according to the IAEA's latest report.

The report showed that Iran now has enough uranium enriched up just short of weapons-grade to theoretically manufacture three bombs.

"That's quite an amount, especially if you don't use it for anything," said a diplomatic source.

Iran has repeatedly denied seeking nuclear weapons.

While Iran has been dragging its feet on reinstalling IAEA monitoring equipment it disconnected last year, it also recently withdrew the accreditation of several agency inspectors.

According to diplomats, Tehran's decision has affected eight inspectors from France and Germany.

A ninth Russian inspector had been barred following the detection of a technical modification in centrifuges that had caused enrichment to peak at 84 percent.

IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi, who has been redoubling his fruitless efforts for months, said on Wednesday that these measures constituted a "very serious blow" to the agency's work.

"It takes two to tango," says one diplomat.

He explained that Iran feels more confident in the face of the Western countries' "reluctance." It also benefits from Moscow's "protection" after the two nations improved their military relations since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Kelsey Davenport of the Arms Control Association think tank said that while the reluctance of the IAEA Board of Governors to act is "understandable," it also constituted "a case of geopolitics trumping nonproliferation norms."

The international community especially fears an extension of the Israel-Hamas war to the border between Lebanon and Israel, which has seen escalating exchanges of fire, primarily involving Israel and Hezbollah, along with Palestinian groups.

However, Davenbauer cautioned that viewing Iran "in a vacuum" and failing to hold it accountable over its advancing nuclear program "sends the wrong signal to Tehran and other would-be proliferators."

Amid heightened tensions in the Middle East and Iran "on the threshold of nuclear weapons, there is an increasing risk that the United States or Israel will miscalculate Iranian nuclear intentions," she said, calling on the Biden administration to break the deadlock.

Heloise Fayet, a researcher at the French Institute of International Relations, noted that "we don't know how closely Tehran is linked to these groups," Western leaders take "as many precautions as possible."



32 Killed in New Sectarian Violence in Pakistan

Police officers stand guard near their vehicles during a protest by Pakistani Shiite Muslims against an attack on passenger vehicles in Kurram, in Dera Ismail Khan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, 22 November 2024. EPA/SAOOD REHMAN
Police officers stand guard near their vehicles during a protest by Pakistani Shiite Muslims against an attack on passenger vehicles in Kurram, in Dera Ismail Khan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, 22 November 2024. EPA/SAOOD REHMAN
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32 Killed in New Sectarian Violence in Pakistan

Police officers stand guard near their vehicles during a protest by Pakistani Shiite Muslims against an attack on passenger vehicles in Kurram, in Dera Ismail Khan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, 22 November 2024. EPA/SAOOD REHMAN
Police officers stand guard near their vehicles during a protest by Pakistani Shiite Muslims against an attack on passenger vehicles in Kurram, in Dera Ismail Khan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, 22 November 2024. EPA/SAOOD REHMAN

At least 32 people were killed and 47 wounded in sectarian clashes in northwest Pakistan, an official told AFP on Saturday, two days after attacks on Shiite passenger convoys killed 43.

Sporadic fighting between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan has killed around 150 over the past months.

"Fighting between Shiite and Sunni communities continues at multiple locations. According to the latest reports, 32 people have been killed which include 14 Sunnis and 18 Shiites," a senior administrative official told AFP on condition of anonymity on Saturday.

On Thursday, gunmen opened fire on two separate convoys of Shiite Muslims travelling with police escort in Kurram, killing 43 while 11 wounded are still in "critical condition", officials told AFP.

In retaliation Shiite Muslims on Friday evening attacked several Sunni locations in the Kurram district, once a semi-autonomous region, where sectarian violence has resulted in the deaths of hundreds over the years.

"Around 7 pm (1400 GMT), a group of enraged Shiite individuals attacked the Sunni-dominated Bagan Bazaar," a senior police officer stationed in Kurram told AFP.

"After firing, they set the entire market ablaze and entered nearby homes, pouring petrol and setting them on fire. Initial reports suggest over 300 shops and more than 100 houses have been burned," he said.

Local Sunnis "also fired back at the attackers", he added.

Javedullah Mehsud, a senior official in Kurram said there were "efforts to restore peace ... (through) the deployment of security forces" and with the help of "local elders".

After Thursday's attacks that killed 43, including seven women and three children, thousands of Shiite Muslims took to the streets in various cities of Pakistan on Friday.

Several hundred people demonstrated in Lahore, Pakistan's second city and Karachi, the country's commercial hub.

In Parachinar, the main town of Kurram district, thousands participated in a sit-in, while hundreds attended the funerals of the victims, mainly Shiite civilians.