UK, US, France, Germany Warn Of Accelerating Iranian Nuclear Programme

France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, (the Quad) have issued a joint statement warning that Iran's failure to implement guidelines outlined by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, could indicate that Iran is developing nuclear weapons capabilities.

• Joint statement: "Given Iran’s history of undeclared nuclear facilities, past and current unresolved questions, and several public statements made by current and former Iranian officials concerning Iran’s technical capabilities to produce nuclear weapons, Iran’s actions further fuel serious doubts over whether Iran’s nuclear activities remain exclusively peaceful."
• A separate E3 statement, released earlier today without the US, noted: "Iran now has almost 4 IAEA significant quantities of high enriched uranium - the approximate amount of nuclear material from which the possibility of manufacturing a nuclear explosive device cannot be excluded."
• The statement comes as tensions in the Middle East remain high, despite receding fears of a retaliatory Iranian strike on Israel.
• Axios reportsthat an "elite IDF unit" conducted a "highly unusual" raid in Syria on Sunday that destroyed an underground precision missile factory purportedly built by Iran.
• Axios notes: "Israeli airstrikes on Syria have increased since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel as cross-border conflicts between Hezbollah and Israel intensified. But the raid on Sunday was the first ground operation the IDF has conducted in recent years against Iranian targets in Syria."