Iran's nuclear agency chief blocked from IAEA General Conference

A top Iranian official has been blocked from addressing the International Atomic Energy Agency’s general conference in Vienna after pressure from the U.S., Bloomberg reported.

Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, had been slated to address the UN nuclear watchdog on Monday before Austria denied him entry. The denial of a UN-requested sanctions waiver followed urging from the Trump administration.

Austria applied to the UN Security Council for an exemption for Eslami, but was informed “that the request had been rejected due to a lack of consensus,” the country’s foreign ministry said.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright is set to use the forum to deliver a warning to Tehran, insisting that the US is unequivocal in its position that “Iran must never develop or obtain a nuclear weapon.”