UN inspectors have already held an initial exchange with Iranian officials to discuss technical issues, Grossi said. The first goal of any visit to Iran would be to check whether IAEA seals on previously inspected material remained intact and whether any material was missing, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cInitial conversations have taken place\u2026 We expect this work to pick up soon,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\t Iran has not informed the watchdog how much of its enriched uranium survived US and Israeli attacks or where it is.<\/p>\n The IAEA estimates Iran had 440.9 kg of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent before the conflict began. That is close to the 90% needed to make a bomb and well above the 3.67% limit set by a now-defunct 2015 agreement with Iran. The 60% enriched uranium has no peaceful use and if enriched further, it would be enough for 10 nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the objective of this [recent US-Iran preliminary] agreement is to ensure that there is no development of nuclear weapons in Iran. The government of Iran has declared quite clearly that this is not their intention,\u201d Grossi told reporters in Japan.<\/p>\n \u201cBut of course, intentions are not enough. We have to have a very strong verification system in place\u2026 as soon as is practicable,\u201d the IAEA chief said.<\/p>\n Gharibabadi said on Wednesday that there were currently no plans to grant access to attacked nuclear facilities or nuclear material. He said such issues would only be addressed within the framework of a final agreement with Washington and after \u201cpractical steps\u201d to lift US sanctions on Iran.<\/p>\n Iran suspended cooperation with the IAEA after Israel and the United States launched a previous wave of attacks in June 2025, and its inspectors have not seen the material since.<\/p>\n Under the terms of the preliminary agreement between Tehran and Washington, this stockpile is meant to be \u201cdownblended\u201d under IAEA supervision.<\/p>\n \t Grossi said the \u201cwidespread impression\u201d was that the stockpile remains where it was before June 2025, at Iran\u2019s Isfahan facility.<\/p>\n However, that facility was bombed and Iran said that it does not plan<\/a> to allow the IAEA to inspect sites that were attacked.<\/p>\n Grossi also said on Friday that an alternative to diluting could be shipping the enriched uranium out of Iran.<\/p>\n \u201cThe memorandum of understanding, as you may have noted, includes the possibility of downblending as one alternative,\u201d Grossi said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt could also be shipped out directly. It would perhaps be more complicated, but there are a few technical alternatives to deal with the material,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Iran, which vows to destroy Israel, has consistently denied seeking to acquire an atomic bomb, while remaining adamant about its right to operate a full-scale civilian nuclear program.<\/p>\n Before the 12-day war in 2025, Iran as a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty \u2014 unlike Israel, which is widely assumed to have atomic weapons \u2014 allowed the IAEA to inspect its nuclear sites under its safeguards deal with the Vienna-based body.<\/p>\n Iran agreed a landmark nuclear deal with six big powers in 2015, limiting its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, but US President Donald Trump walked away from the agreement during his first term.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident \u2013 ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded \u2013 I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.<\/p>\n There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.<\/p>\n As a Times of Israel reporter, I\u2019m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit\u2019s. But my colleagues and I can’t do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.<\/p>\n \u2014 Stav Levaton, military reporter<\/p>\n \t\t\t
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\n\t\tIllustrative: International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors (2nd and 3rd left) and Iranian technicians at the Natanz nuclear power plant, south of Tehran, on January 20, 2014. (Kazem Ghane\/IRNA\/AFP\/File)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26055324396863-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tIn this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Masoud Pezeshkian, second right, listens to the head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Mohammad Eslami as he visits an exhibition of Iran\u2019s nuclear achievements, in Tehran, Iran, on April 9, 2025. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)<\/p>\n
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