Guardian: No Persian Speakers at IAEA Safeguards Department for security reasons

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano at the ABACC Exhibit at the IAEA 55th General Conference. Vienna, Austria, 20 September 2010. Photo Credit: Dean Calma / IAEA

Can this be true? According to Julian Borger:

The Guardian has also learned that for security reasons, there are no longer any Farsi speakers in the safeguards department to analyse the flow of documents coming in about the Iranian nuclear programme.

Agency officials and western diplomats, while neither confirming nor denying the absence of Farsi speakers in safeguards, say there is sufficient language expertise in the agency as a whole for it not to matter. However, Herman Nackaerts, the current head of safeguards, is said to have complained privately that not having Farsi speakers working directly for him has harmed his ability to conduct his enquiries.

A former inspector said: “It is a serious problem. We asked for something to be done about it but we were told it was a matter of trust, that these people would have relatives in Iran and would be open to pressure.”

Jasmin Ramsey

Jasmin Ramsey is a journalist based in Washington, DC.

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  1. I can personally subscribe to what Ms.Jasmin Ramsey.Iranians are even barred from doing internship in the IAEA.
    Thanks for bringing up the topic.

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