Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said that the UN nuclear watchdog should avoid turning technical reports into "tools of political pressure" if it wanted to contribute to a diplomatic solution. He said that the loss of the agency's oversight at some facilities resulted from the attacks rather than a lack of cooperation by Iran, adding that the International Atomic Energy Agency was using the consequences of US and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites to create "ambiguity" about Tehran's nuclear program. The agency reaffirmed in a confidential report on Thursday that a lack of access to verify nuclear material in Iran posed a "proliferation concern,” calling on the country to "engage the agency constructively.” The IAEA has not had access to some key nuclear facilities in Iran since Israel and the United States launched a 12-day conflict in June 2025 that saw strikes on nuclear sites. Nuclear sites have also been struck in the war that erupted on February 28. The IAEA has repeatedly urged access. "While the agency acknowledged that the military attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities and sites have created an unprecedented situation, it is critical for the agency to conduct verification activities in Iran without delay," the IAEA said in the report. Prior to US strikes in June 2025, the IAEA calculated that Iran possessed approximately 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent, which is close to the 90 percent needed to make a bomb and well above the 3.67-percent limit set by a 2015 now-defunct agreement with Iran. Since June 2025, the fate of this stockpile has remained uncertain, with Tehran refusing access to IAEA inspectors at sites ravaged by US and Israeli strikes. "The agency's lack of access to verify the previously declared highly enriched uranium and low enriched uranium for nearly a year -- which is long overdue according to standard safeguard practices -- is a matter of proliferation concern," it added.
