International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi urged Iran to cooperate with the agency, warning inspectors remain unable to verify the status of Tehran’s enriched uranium stockpiles a year after U.S.-Israeli military strikes damaged key nuclear facilities.
Addressing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors, Grossi called on Iran to engage once more with the agency and facilitate the full implementation of safeguards obligations, saying communication channels between Tehran and the watchdog have largely broken down.
“There is a universal expectation that the IAEA has the verification role under any overall diplomatic agreement,” Grossi said in his opening statement on Monday. “Agreements that lack such verification by the agency do not stand up to scrutiny.”
The director general said Iran has yet to provide the agency with information on the condition of bombed nuclear sites or the fate of nuclear material that was stored there, including uranium enriched to 60% purity, just below weapons-grade levels. While enrichment facilities were damaged during the attacks, significant quantities of highly enriched uranium are believed to have survived, according to the IAEA.
The agency has been unable to return to several affected sites since the strikes, preventing inspectors from independently verifying Iran’s inventories of low- and highly enriched uranium. In a recent safeguards report, the IAEA warned that the prolonged lack of access has resulted in a loss of “continuity of knowledge” over previously declared nuclear material, raising both proliferation and safeguards concerns.
Grossi reiterated that Iran’s obligations under its safeguards agreement with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty remain in force and cannot be suspended. He emphasized that restoring agency access is urgent if inspectors are to re-establish confidence in their accounting of Iran’s nuclear material and activities.