IAEA report says Iran must allow inspections, points at Isfahan
A handout picture provided by the Iranian presidency shows President Masoud Pezeshkian, second left, and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran chief Mohammad Eslami, second right, during the ‘National Day of Nuclear Technology,’ in Tehran, on April 9, 2025. PHOTO:AFP
The UN nuclear watchdog issued a confidential report on Friday urging Iran to allow inspections at all its nuclear sites, highlighting Isfahan because of a new enrichment plant and near-weapons-grade uranium stored there.
The report was sent to members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ahead of next week’s quarterly meeting of its 35-country board, amid ongoing nuclear talks between the United States and Iran, the latest round of which was held on Thursday with no breakthrough.
Like previous IAEA reports, it could be used by Washington to argue that Tehran has not been transparent about its nuclear activities, at a time when US President Donald Trump had massed forces in the region and threatened new military action.
The US and Israel bombed Iranian nuclear sites last June, and Iran has since refused to disclose the fate of its highly enriched uranium or allow IAEA inspectors access to enrichment sites.
"While the agency acknowledged that the military attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities had created an unprecedented situation, it is critical for it to conduct verification activities in Iran without any further delay," the report seen by Reuters said.
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Indispensable and urgent
Allowing inspections was described as "indispensable and urgent". The report added that a successful outcome in US-Iran negotiations would have a "positive impact on the effective implementation of safeguards in Iran and the resolution of issues described in this report".
The IAEA estimates that Iran had 440.9 kilogrammes of uranium enriched up to 60% before last year's Israeli-US attacks — enough, if further enriched, for 10 nuclear weapons, according to IAEA calculations. The agency and Western powers believe much of it remains intact.
Iran stored highly enriched uranium at underground site, IAEA report says - https://t.co/Y1Dy84PC5i
The report provided new details about Isfahan, where much of Iran’s highly enriched uranium has been stored in a tunnel complex that appears to have survived last June’s attacks. For the first time, it confirmed that uranium enriched to 20% and 60% had been kept there.
Satellite imagery observed "regular vehicular activity around the entrance to the tunnel complex at Isfahan in which [uranium] enriched up to 20% and 60% U-235 … was stored", the report said.
The US-Israeli attacks are believed to have destroyed or heavily damaged the three uranium enrichment sites operating at the time. Shortly before Israel’s strike, Iran announced a fourth enrichment plant in Isfahan, though the IAEA still does not know its precise location or operational status.
"It is a matter of increasing concern that Iran has never provided the agency with access to its fourth declared enrichment facility since it was first declared by Iran in June last year," the report said.