Iran denied United Nations inspectors access to a suspected nuclear site, scientists and documents during a visit to Tehran this week, dimming already scant hopes for a breakthrough to end a standoff over Iran's nuclear work, said diplomats briefed on the International Atomic Energy Agency's mission.
In a sign the visit did little to ease international condemnation of Iran, on Thursday the U.S. Senate Banking Committee approved a sanctions bill to further curb Iran's access to high technology and munitions, intended to help cripple Tehran's energy sector and the businesses of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran's elite military unit.
An amendment to the bill provides for possible sanctions against the management and ownership of the Belgium-based Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, or Swift, which facilitates the flow of electronic financial transactions globally.
U.S. lawmakers are alleging that Swift has aided blacklisted Iranian banks in evading U.S. and European Union sanctions, a charge the organization denies. "The measures…will further increase the pressure on Iran to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons and sponsorship of global terrorism," said Tim Johnson (D., S.D.) chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.
The Obama administration and the EU have significantly increased financial pressure in recent weeks, including decisions to put sanctions on Iran's central bank and an embargo on Iranian oil shipments to Europe. Tehran has branded these measures as acts of war and threatened to retaliate by closing the Strait of Hormuz, the sea route for oil shipments from the Persian Gulf.
The IAEA said it will return a senior-level team to Iran later this month to try to build on three days of discussions that were held with senior Iranian officials, which ended Tuesday. The two sides largely discussed the mechanisms through which they could address the IAEA's concerns, and a possible future work plan, according to the officials briefed on the trip.
But U.S. and European officials are already voicing concerns that Tehran is seeking to use the dialogue to divide the international community and stave off additional financial penalties that are being crafted in Washington and the EU.
The IAEA's trip to Iran was led by the agency's top nuclear inspector, Herman Nackaerts of Belgium. The visit was the U.N. watchdog agency's first high-level mission to Tehran since it released a report in November that alleged Iran has sought to develop the technologies used in developing atomic weapons.
Iran, which denies it is working to develop nuclear weapons, rejected the report and said the IAEA's conclusions were drawn from falsified documents.
The IAEA's staff has been seeking to gain access to Iranian facilities suspected of conducting nuclear-weapons research, as well as to scientists and documents believed to be associated with this alleged clandestine work. The U.N. agency specifically has been seeking to interview nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, whom the IAEA and U.S. government believe may be the lead Iranian official in organizing nuclear-weapons research.
Mr. Nackaerts also asked Iranian officials to visit a military facility just south of Tehran, called Parchin, but was denied, according to the officials briefed on the trip. The IAEA believes the facility may have housed a containment vessel used in conducting tests of the high explosives used in triggering a fissile reaction from the uranium metal used in a nuclear warhead, according to the agency's November report.
Iranian officials hailed the IAEA's trip to Iran as opening a new chapter of cooperation between Tehran and the agency. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said his government was ready to show its nuclear facilities to Mr. Nackaerts, but that the agency didn't request a visit.
Iran maintains that Parchin is solely a military facility, not one working on nuclear technologies.
The new financial penalties being pursued by the U.S. Congress could significantly increase tensions with Iran, and possibly disrupt global finance, according to Western diplomats.
The Swift financial system is used by virtually every major international bank and finance firm to send transactional data and messages via a secured network. Swift said it operates transparently and complies fully with all applicable sanctions laws in the jurisdictions in which it operates.
Obama administration officials said they were also seeking to safeguard the global economy and the interests of U.S. allies.
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