Iran Sets Conditions For IAEA Inspections After Grossi Says Access Blocked For Over A Year

IAEA access standoff

Iran said the International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspection process could be possible under certain conditions after IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi called for access to Iran’s nuclear facilities. Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the IAEA director general must demand that the US and Israel stop attacks and threats against Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities so that conditions are created for IAEA safeguards. Grossi told the Board of Governors that the agency has been unable to verify Iran’s nuclear program for over a year, saying the IAEA “has neither received information from Iran regarding the status of its declared nuclear material or facilities nor had access to any of those facilities to conduct in-field verification activities.”

He added that “the agency was unable to discharge its safeguards responsibilities under the NPT Safeguards Agreement at declared nuclear facilities in Iran,” and said the situation needs to be rectified with the utmost urgency. Grossi also called on Iran “to engage with the agency constructively in order to make possible the full and effective implementation of agency safeguards in Iran,” while the September meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors was underway.

Reporting for this sectionReport.azThe Jerusalem Post

Diplomacy vs escalation

As Grossi pressed for renewed cooperation, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei dismissed a US push for a UN Security Council referral as “biased” and legally void.

Baghaei said, “This resolution, this draft resolution, is based on a report published by the International Atomic Energy Agency and its director general. We have faced this pattern before,” arguing the move violates what he described as prior European claims about the snapback mechanism.

The Türkiye Today report said the US resolution demands that Iran “urgently remedy its non-compliance” and allow inspections to ensure “the non-diversion of nuclear material,” and it said the resolution was backed by European nations on the IAEA board.

Grossi told diplomats last week that the agency’s lack of information about Iran’s nuclear material was “a matter of proliferation concern,” and he urged Iran to allow inspectors back “with the utmost urgency.”

The same report said inspectors have been blocked from returning to damaged plants in Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz, where Iran’s 440.9 kilograms of higher-enriched material and 8,599.6 kilograms of lower-enriched material were last confirmed.

Reporting for this sectionTürkiye Today

What’s at stake next

The IAEA chief warned that the lack of access and information has implications for the global nonproliferation regime, and he said the situation regarding Iran’s nuclear program needs to be rectified with the utmost urgency. In the same Board of Governors context, Grossi said the agency was unable to report on Iran’s implementation of relevant provisions of UN Security Council resolutions and the board’s resolutions of November last year and June this year. The Jerusalem Post report said the IAEA Board of Governors is expected to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for further condemnation or action, while Iran threatened the IAEA and the West with severe consequences if such a referral is made.

Separately, the Report.az account said Iran’s conditions for inspections hinge on the IAEA director general demanding that the US and Israel stop attacks and threats against Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities. The Türkiye Today report added that the current IAEA board meeting is expected to unfold this week in Vienna, and it described the stakes as tied to whether Iran allows inspectors back after the US and Israeli strikes that began in June 2025.

Reporting for this sectionThe Jerusalem PostTürkiye Today