Iran shuts nuclear facilities and cancels inspections amid fears of Israeli attack

Iran closed down its nuclear facilities amid fears of an Israeli attack, the United Nations has revealed. There is limited evidence the Islamic Republic wants to create a nuclear bomb, and Israel is not understood to be preparing an imminent attack on nuclear facilities. The UN inspections are a legacy of the now defunct Iran nuclear deal, which exchanged sanctions relief for curbs and monitoring of the nuclear programme to prevent Tehran getting the bomb. The country’s Atomic Energy Organisation also used the term “deterrence” in relation to its nuclear programme earlier this year. “A strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities should be off the table,” she said.