IAEA chief gets Austrian Cobra police protection over 'unspecified threat'

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is receiving special police protection from Austria following an unspecified threat, the Vienna-based organisation said on Wednesday.

Rafael Grossi, who plans to run for United Nations-secretary general, is being protected by an Austrian police Cobra unit.

The elite squad under Austria's interior ministry mainly handles counter-terrorism operations, hostage rescues and responses to mass shootings.

It also engages in personal protection and protection of Austrian foreign representations abroad.

In Austria, Cobra operatives are known for protecting the president and chancellor as well as the US and Israeli ambassadors.

"We can confirm that Austria provided a Cobra unit but we cannot confirm where the specific threat came from," IAEA spokesman Fredrik Dahl said.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the additional security detail for Grossi, an Argentinian diplomat who has raised the profile of the IAEA with his trips into Ukraine after Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion and the agency's work on Iran.

The increased protection for Grossi comes as tensions over Iran's nuclear programme are rising again, with France, Germany and the United Kingdom poised to declare "snapback" sanctions on Tehran over its refusal to allow IAEA inspections.

Iran has until 31 August to satisfy those concerns.

Questions remain following the 12-day Iran-Israel conflict in June over the status of Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which could be enough for several atomic bombs if Tehran chooses to build them.

Iran however has maintained that its nuclear programme is for peaceful civilian purposes only.

Israel attacked Iran in June after the IAEA's Board of Governors voted to censure Tehran over its non-cooperation with the agency, the first such censure in 20 years.

Iran accused the IAEA, without providing evidence, of aiding Israel and later the United States in air strikes targeting its nuclear sites.

Top Iranian officials and Iranian media called for Grossi to be arrested and put on trial if he returned to the country.

IAEA reportedly monitoring Bushehr refuelling

On Wednesday, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said IAEA inspectors were at the Bushehr nuclear power plant to watch a fuel replacement at the facility, according to a report by the state-run IRNA news agency.

The IAEA has not acknowledged the inspectors' presence.

Bushehr is run with the support of Russian technicians.

Araghchi reportedly cautioned that didn’t represent any breakthrough on the IAEA visiting other sites.

A parliamentary law blocked Iran’s government from cooperating with the IAEA until the agency offered security guarantees following the conflict with Israel.