Iran Shuts Out Nuclear Monitors in Tactics Echoing Cold War

Iran is said to be cutting off communication with key United Nations watchdog officials, deepening uncertainty over the status of its nuclear program and introducing additional ambiguity to the diplomatic showdown with Washington.

After formally ending inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency last week, Iranian nuclear-safety regulators have stopped taking calls from the Vienna-based agency, according to two officials who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive information. The IAEA’s Incident and Emergency Centre was activated after Israel’s June 13 attack and had been in continuous contact with counterparts in Iran, but that information sharing has tailed off, they said.