UN nuclear watchdog says Iran blocks access to bombed nuclear sites

Iran has denied inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) access to nuclear sites that were struck during a 12-day conflict involving Israel and the United States in June, according to a confidential report circulated among member states and reviewed by the Associated Press.

In its latest assessment, the Vienna-based watchdog said it is unable to confirm whether Tehran has halted uranium enrichment activities or to determine the current quantity of enriched uranium stored at impacted facilities. The report underscored that inspectors have not been permitted to visit any of Iran’s four officially declared enrichment plants since the attacks.

The agency warned that without on-the-ground access, it cannot assess the size, composition, or location of Iran’s enriched uranium reserves. It specifically highlighted the lack of access to the Isfahan Fuel Enrichment Plant, noting that inspectors have been barred from the facility for more than eight months, despite Iran previously providing design information. As a result, the IAEA said it cannot establish whether nuclear material is present there or if the site is currently operational.

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The report emphasised the urgent need to restore what it described as “continuity of knowledge” concerning nuclear materials that were previously under safeguards. That continuity was disrupted following the military strikes.

Considerable uncertainty surrounds the fate of Iran’s stockpile of more than 400 kilos of 60-percent enriched uranium that was last seen by nuclear watchdog inspectors last June 10.

Israel launched strikes on Iran last June, beginning a 12-day war that the US briefly joined to bomb Iranian nuclear sites.

Tehran suspended some cooperation with the IAEA and restricted the watchdog’s inspectors from accessing sites bombed by Israel and the United States, accusing the UN body of bias and of failing to condemn the strikes.

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“The agency’s loss of continuity of knowledge over all previously declared nuclear material at affected facilities in Iran needs to be addressed with the utmost urgency,” the report said.

Western countries, led by the United States as well as by Israel, Iran’s arch-enemy and considered by experts to be the only nuclear power in the West Asia, accuse the Islamic republic of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.

Tehran denies having such military ambitions, but insists on its right to this technology for civilian purposes.

On Thursday, Oman-mediated talks between Iran and the US in Geneva were seen as a last-ditch bid to avert war, though initial optimism was tempered by Tehran warning Washington must drop “excessive demands” to reach a deal.

Iran had been enriching uranium to 60 percent, well above the 3.67 percent limit allowed by the now-defunct 2015 nuclear agreement and close to 90 percent needed to make a bomb, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

With inputs from agencies