UN watchdog calls on Iran to reopen nuclear facilities to inspection

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IAEA says it cannot verify whether an underground Iranian enrichment plant contains nuclear material.

The United Nations nuclear watchdog has urged Iran to allow it to resume inspections of its nuclear facilities.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) called for Tehran to restore access for its inspectors in a report circulated by the watchdog among member states on Friday, insisting the move is essential to carry out its remit to monitor the Iranian nuclear programme.

Iran has allowed only very limited IAEA inspections since the United States and Israel launched attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities in June 2025. The report said Tehran had told the organisation that it was not possible to allow the inspections to continue amid the current security situation.

The IAEA said the lack of information about Iran’s atomic sites and nuclear material is “a matter of proliferation concern” that “needs to be rectified with the utmost urgency,” The Associated Press news agency reported.

The watchdog noted that it is “fully prepared to resume its safeguards activities in Iran at short notice”.

The report expressed particular concern about an underground uranium-enrichment plant near Isfahan in central Iran, according to the Reuters news agency.

Tehran declared the Isfahan Fuel Enrichment Plant in 2025 but has not permitted the IAEA access to inspect the facility.

Inspectors still do not know the plant’s precise location, whether it holds nuclear material, or its status under international monitoring rules. The report did not establish that uranium enrichment is taking place there.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi urged Iran to consider limited technical measures that could make inspection visits possible and help restore routine monitoring, the AFP news agency said.

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