Iranian security forces guarding an Iranian nuclear facility in Natanz allegedly physically abused and harassed female members of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday quoting diplomats without indicating where they are from.
Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, Kazem Gharibabadi had announced the increased security measures on Twitter. He wrote, “Security measures at the nuclear facilities in Iran are, reasonably, tightened. The IAEA inspectors have gradually come up with the new rules and regulations.”
The harassment of the female officers reportedly took place early in June. Allegedly a female officer was subject to a very intrusive search by male security guards. Other similar incidents involved inappropriate touching of female inspectors and order for removal of some clothes stating security reasons. The US has demanded Iran that such incidents be prevented from happening in the future.
One diplomat told the Wall Street Journal that there had been four such incidents and another diplomat said that there had been five to seven such incidents. One of the diplomats said that one incident happened in the last few weeks, while the first incident took place in June.
In December 2020, the Iranian Parliament passed a law restricting access to IAEA inspectors but allowed work related to the Non-proliferation treaty to continue.
''The Agency immediately and firmly raised this issue with Iran to explain in very clear and unequivocal terms that such security-related incidents involving Agency staff are unacceptable and must not happen again,'' said the UN nuclear watchdog.
IAEA Director Rafael Gross ivisited Iran on September 12 and secured maintenance work on surveillance cameras in the nuclear facilities. Director of Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran Mohammed Eslami said on September 15, that several IAEA cameras in the facility were damaged.
Saudi Prince Abdullah bin Khaled bin Sultan on September 15 said, “Iran’s nuclear blackmail must be stopped. The kingdom called on Iran to comply with protocols laid down by IAEA in relation to the JCPOA.
