Gharibabadi Warns of Saudi "Secret Nuclear Program"

Iranian Ambassador and PR to Vienna-based International Organizations, Kazem Gharibabadi, called the IAEA on Thursday to present a report to IAEA members on the Saudi "Secret Nuclear Program," noting that neglecting the inspection will allow Saudi Arabia to hide some of its nuclear activity.

Gharibabadi warned in a tweet, replying to the Saudi PR's claims in Vienna on the recent Iranian nuclear developments saying: "the IAEA is not being provided with even minimum necessary verification authorities." 

For the KSA, the IAEA is not being provided with even minimum necessary verification authorities. A failure to implement the safeguards by rescinding the SQPs, could allow them to hide certain nuclear activities without them being subject to the IAEA inspections.

— Gharibabadi (@Gharibabadi) July 8, 2021This comes after calls made by Gharibabadi last year for the IAEA to give agency members reports on the Saudi "secret nuclear program," following news on the building of a yellowcake plant by the Kingdom. 

Moreover, Gharibabadi said that "Saudi Arabia is developing and implementing a highly non-transparent nuclear program," adding: "Despite the fact that Saudi Arabia is a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and has a comprehensive bilateral safeguard agreement with the agency (IAEA), it has unfortunately refused to abide by its commitments to the agency's inspections despite repetitive calls.”

He also noted that Saudi Arabia has "no research reactor to seek production of yellowcake," noting that the issue, "along with the Saudis' covert actions in the nuclear field and the denial of access to IAEA inspectors, as well as its destabilizing activities in the region, raises concerns about a covert nuclear weapons program in the country."