The UN nuclear watchdog chief travels to Iran as its monitoring remains hampered

By JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — The head of the United Nations’ atomic watchdog will travel to Iran where his agency faces increasing difficulty in monitoring the Islamic Republic’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. Rafael Mariano Grossi already has warned Tehran has enough uranium enriched to near-weapons-grade levels to make “several” nuclear bombs if it chose to do so. He also has acknowledged the agency can’t guarantee that none of Iran’s centrifuges may have been peeled away for clandestine enrichment. Those challenges now find themselves entangled in attacks between Israel and Iran, with the city of Isfahan apparently coming under Israeli fire in recent weeks despite it being surrounded by sensitive nuclear sites.