IAEA pushes back against Israeli demand for immediate Iran inspection

Vienna (dpa) - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will make its own decisions about what to inspect in Iran, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said Tuesday after Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu had demanded a visit to an alleged nuclear warehouse."The agency sends inspectors to sites and locations only when needed," Director General Amano said in a statement.Last Thursday, Netanyahu presented maps and photos of what he said was a secret nuclear storage site in Tehran, during a speech at the UN General Assembly in New York.Addressing Amano, Netanyahu said: "Go inspect this atomic warehouse, immediately, before the Iranians finish clearing it out.""Once and for all, tell the world the truth about Iran," he added.The IAEA chief reacted by stressing that his Vienna-based organization must not side with any country as it verifies the 2015 nuclear treaty that was designed to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons.IAEA inspectors are present in Iran continuously, and they have so far found that the Islamic Republic sticks to the pact.Before the Tehran warehouse allegations, Netanyahu had stated in April that Israel uncovered a hidden trove of technical information related to nuclear weapons in Iran.While the IAEA uses all available information, Amano said, "it does not take any information at face value," but draws its own conclusions after careful analysis.US President Donald Trump and Netanyahu are among the world‘s fiercest critics of Iran. Netanyahu has repeatedly applauded Trump for his decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.