UN nuclear watchdog chief said to receive 24/7 security detail due to Iranian threat
By Sean Rayment
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is reportedly receiving 24/7 protection from armed Austrian security units following death threats from Iran.
Rafael Grossi has been placed under the protection of Austria’s Cobra special forces unit, which is responsible for safeguarding top officials, including the country’s chancellor, and countering major threats such as terrorism.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, headquartered in Vienna, Austria, serves as the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog.
“We can confirm that Austria provided a Cobra unit, but we cannot confirm where the specific threat came from,” IAEA spokesman Fredrik Dahl told the Wall Street Journal.
Tehran apparently blames Grossi’s report on Iranian nuclear activity for the Israeli and US strikes on its nuclear sites in June.
The Iranian regime has directly threatened Grossi, with the head of its National Security Council, Ali Larijani, saying: “When the war ends, we are going to deal with Grossi.”
As well as officials calling for Grossi to be “[dealt] with”, the country’s media is also calling for his assassination. Ultra-conservative newspaper Kayhan has claimed that Grossi is an Israeli spy and has called for him to be detained and executed.
The IAEA report, written by Grossi on 31 May, a few weeks before the first Israeli strike, detailed that, due to Iran’s failure to respond to questions regarding the nature of its nuclear programme, the agency could not ensure that its purpose was energy generation rather than militarisation.
Iran reportedly believes Grossi was effectively acting as an agent for Israel by portraying the nuclear programme as dangerous, giving Jerusalem the impetus to strike.
Fredrik Dahl, an IAEA spokesman, said: “We can confirm that Austria provided a Cobra unit, but we cannot confirm where the specific threat came from.”
The news comes just as IAEA nuclear inspectors have been permitted to enter Iran again for the first time since the outbreak of the war with Israel.
Tehran suspended cooperation with the agency at the time of the attacks, but relations between the two sides now appear to have thawed.
Grossi told Fox News: “Now the first team of IAEA inspectors is back in Iran, and we are about to restart.
“When it comes to Iran, as you know, there are many facilities. Some were attacked, some were not.
“So we are discussing what kind of… practical modalities can be implemented in order to facilitate the restart of our work there.”
The relationship between Iran and Grossi has often been tense since he became the agency’s top official in 2019. He had previously worked as a senior IAEA official before the 2015 nuclear deal, during another period of clashes between Tehran and the agency.
He won the top job on a promise to be firm on Iran’s escalating nuclear activities and had the backing of the first Trump administration.
Grossi has tried to persuade Iran to limit its violations of the 2015 nuclear deal and has faced what IAEA officials call Iranian stonewalling of a six-year probe into undeclared nuclear material found in Iran. After the US withdrew from the agreement during President Trump’s first term, Iran broke almost all the limits on its nuclear work in the agreement, building up by June enough near–weapons-grade enriched uranium to fuel around ten nuclear weapons.
