US privately warns Iran over suspicious nuclear activities

The Biden administration sent a private warning to Iran last month expressing serious concerns about Iranian research and development activities that could be used for the production of a nuclear weapon, three US and Israeli officials told Axios, Report informs.

The US and Israel have both detected suspicious nuclear activities by Iranian scientists in recent months. Officials fear they could be part of a covert Iranian effort to use the period around the US presidential election to make progress toward nuclear weaponization.

The US and Israeli intelligence communities, as well as senior policy officials from both countries, worked to understand the Iranian activities and whether they constituted a change in policy by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

US officials said the Biden administration conveyed its nuclear concerns to the Iranians several weeks ago, both through a third country and direct channels.

They added that the Iranians came back with a response that included explanations for these nuclear activities, stressing there has been no change in policy and they are not working on a nuclear weapon.

The exchange of messages and other information obtained by the US and Israel addressed some of the concerns and somewhat eased anxieties over the Iranian research and development activities, US and Israeli officials stated.

A US official said that the message the US sent to the Iranians was effective but added there are still significant concerns about the Iranian nuclear program.