IAEA voices serious concern at Iran's stonewalling on old sites

The U.N. nuclear watchdog expressed serious concern on Tuesday that Iran has continued for months to deny it access to sites of interest to it, describing previous suspected activities there that could have been part of a nuclear weapons programme.

The IAEA issued a report in March admonishing Iran for failing to answer its questions about past nuclear activities at three sites and for denying it access to two of them. Diplomats have since said that the agency is looking into activities at the sites that predate its 2015 deal with major powers.

A report to IAEA member states issued on Tuesday detailed suspected activities and materials including "the possible presence...of natural uranium in the form of a metal disc" at a site that "underwent extensive sanitization and levelling in 2003 and 2004", the report said, describing the third site.