IAEA’s director-general, Rafael Grossi, told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that the situation could and must be rectified through constructive engagement with Iran.


Mr Grossi said the agency’s inspectors had been unable to return to sites hit by Israeli airstrikes in June 2025 and joint Israeli and US attacks in early 2026. He said the agency had seen no evidence of efforts to repair or rebuild the damaged sites, adding that satellite monitoring could not replace physical access.


The Bushehr nuclear power plant is the only exception, with inspectors currently working there. According to Mr Grossi, Iran’s atomic energy agency has cooperated in providing the safeguards equipment required to verify spent nuclear fuel before its transfer to dry storage, expected early next year.


However, normal inspections have not resumed, and Iran has yet to provide the information and access needed to verify previously declared nuclear material at safeguarded facilities. The restrictions affect both facilities struck during the attacks and those that were not targeted.


Mr Grossi expressed particular concern over Iran’s declared stockpile of 440 kilogrammes of highly enriched uranium, which remains a key focus of the agency’s verification efforts. The IAEA is also seeking access to the Isfahan Fuel Enrichment Plant, which Iran declared shortly before the June 2025 strikes.


Mr Grossi restated that diplomatic engagement backed by independent verification remained essential to preventing nuclear proliferation.


“Only diplomacy, underpinned by IAEA verification, can prevent nuclear proliferation in the long term,” he said.

(NAN)