Nuclear Inspectors Say Their Mission to Iran Has Failed

By DAVID E. SANGER and ALAN COWELL

A visit by international nuclear inspectors to Iran ended in failure Tuesday. Tehran not only blocked access to a site the inspectors believe could have been used for tests on how to produce a nuclear weapon, they reported, but it also refused to agree to a process for resolving questions about other “possible military dimensions” to its nuclear program. The announcement came in a terse press release from the International Atomic Energy Agency, a United Nations agency, which said its inspection team had left the country.

The agency is expected to release its latest report on the status of Iran’s program in the next week.

The inspectors’ previous visit to Iran ended several weeks ago with no agreement other than to meet this week. Iran’s refusal to deal with the inspectors’ questions is likely to increase tension, at a moment of heightened sanctions and after the assassination of nuclear scientists in Iran and suspected retaliation against Israeli diplomats.

Iran struck an increasingly bellicose tone on Tuesday, with an Iranian official warning that the country would take pre-emptive action against perceived foes if it felt its national interests were threatened. The country also laid down new conditions for oil sales. Iran also indicated in recent days, however, that it was willing to resume negotiations over its nuclear program, but it was unclear under what terms.

In the statement Tuesday, the nuclear agency said its team had “requested access to the military site at Parchin,” where there was evidence of a facility that could be used in weapons-related testing.

“Iran did not grant permission for this visit to take place,” the statement said. In the past, Iran had said the team of inspectors could visit any nuclear-related location, but it has recently maintained that Parchin was a military base and off limits. Access to the Parchin site may prove a litmus test of whether Iran will ever allow the kind of intrusive inspections that most Western officials say are necessary to establish whether Iran has conducted research on “weaponization.”

The last report by the agency said Iran had gone beyond theoretical studies about how to detonate a nuclear device, building a large containment vessel at its Parchin military base for testing the feasibility of explosive compression. It called such tests “strong indicators of possible weapon development.”

The I.A.E.A. statement also said Iran and the agency could not agree “on a document facilitating the clarification of unresolved issues in connection with Iran’s nuclear program, particularly those relating to possible military dimensions.” The director general of the agency, Yukiya Amano, said in the statement that “it is disappointing that Iran did not accept our request to visit Parchin during the first or second meetings,” insisting his group had “engaged in a constructive spirit.”

The latest warnings from Iran on Tuesday included a further extension of a dispute with the European Union over an oil embargo due to come into force on July 1, with Iran outlining what were termed conditions for future sales to European customers. Iran said Sunday that it had cut off sales to Britain and France, and warned Monday that it might extend the ban to other members of the 27-nation European Union.

Growing tensions over Iran’s nuclear program have provoked speculation that Israel may be contemplating a military strike against nuclear facilities, which Iran says are for peaceful purposes but which the West suspects are inching toward the capability to produce weapons.

Without mentioning Israel directly, Mohammad Hejazi, the deputy armed forces head, said Tuesday, “Our strategy now is that if we feel our enemies want to endanger Iran’s national interests, and want to decide to do that, we will act without waiting for their actions.”

Divisions in Iran’s leadership make it hard to interpret the government’s intentions, but the statement showed a new level of aggressiveness.