Financial TimesFinancial Times

Can Iran’s march to nuclear statehood be halted?

By Andrew England, Felicia Schwartz and Najmeh Bozorgmehr

20 Jun 2023 · 10 min read

Editor's Note

Iran is on the threshold of becoming a nuclear state, just as it has been locked in a dangerous game of brinkmanship with the U.S. The FT reports on whether a diplomatic solution is possible.

When two UN atomic watchdog inspectors set off for Iran’s Fordow nuclear plant in January, they gave their Iranian counterparts virtually no notice of the impending visit.

It was what the International Atomic Energy Agency terms a routine unscheduled inspection, designed to give staff at one of the Islamic republic’s most secretive facilities as little time as possible to make any alterations to equipment.

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