IAEA Chief Relayed Iran's Warning Against Israeli Attacks on Nuclear Facilities

(Patria) - The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said that the Iranians warned him that an Israeli attack on nuclear facilities could make them more determined to develop nuclear weapons, according to an interview broadcast and published on Monday.

“An attack could potentially have a unifying effect, strengthening Iran’s determination, I will say it openly, to pursue nuclear weapons or to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” Grossi said in the interview, published on the Jerusalem Post website and broadcast on i24 TV.

Grossi doubts that Israel will attack Iranian nuclear facilities, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Iran's nuclear program “is going wide and deep,” Grossi told the Jerusalem Post. “Disrupting it would require immense and devastating force.”

Tehran and Washington recently began nuclear talks mediated by Oman. Iran will submit a counter-proposal for a nuclear deal to the United States via Oman, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on Monday, in response to an American offer that Tehran considers “unacceptable”.

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump said he had warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against taking actions that could disrupt nuclear talks with Iran.

“I told him that it would be inappropriate to do so now because we are very close to a deal,” Trump said. “It could change at any moment.”
Trump and Netanyahu spoke by phone on Monday, Reuters reported.