Diplomats are beginning to react to a confidential IAEA report leaked this week that heightened concerns that Iran was using negotiations to stall for time and lock-in critical nuclear infrastructure.

Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, of course dismissed the report’s significance. State Department Acting Deputy Spokesperson Patrick Ventrell delivered a different assessment:

The IAEA Director General’s report on Iran was released to the Board of Governors today. This report marks an unfortunate milestone with regard to Iran’s illicit nuclear activities, as the Director General first reported to the board concerns over Iran’s nuclear program going back to June 2003, so we’re at the 10-year mark here. And in the past 10 years, Iran has brazenly ignored multiple Board of Governors resolutions while advancing its enrichment program in blatant violation of its international obligations… Iran still has not provided the requisite cooperation with the IAEA for them to complete their investigation.

Meanwhile, reports emerged that Iran is paving over its military facility at Parchin, where the regime is widely suspected of having conducted research related to the creation of nuclear warhead. Foreign policy analysts had suggested that Iran might, in the context of negotiations, offer to open up Parchin to inspectors in return for Western concessions. It would be unusual for such a gesture to now be seen as credible.

The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) summarized the IAEA’s report [PDF].

[Photo: Sarajevo-x / Wiki Commons]