IAEA chief says Iran inspections will resume despite US-Iran tensions

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has said inspections of Iranian nuclear sites will resume at some point, despite recent disagreements between Washington and Tehran over access. Rafael Grossi made the remarks on Wednesday during a press conference at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan. His comments amount to the clearest signal yet that the UN nuclear watchdog expects its inspectors to regain entry to sites linked to Iran's uranium enrichment programme.

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Grossi said the agency's role was explicitly set out in a memorandum of understanding signed by the presidents of the United States and Iran. He said the document provides for the IAEA to supervise activities covered by the agreement, including those involving nuclear facilities and materials. The remarks came after US and Iranian officials gave conflicting accounts earlier in the week about whether inspections would restart soon.

Iran has blocked IAEA visits to facilities where the agency says highly enriched uranium is stored since Israel launched a 12-day offensive against the country in 2025. According to the report, estimates suggest that the material could be enough to produce up to ten nuclear weapons if Iran chose to develop them. Tehran denies any intention to build nuclear arms and says its programme is for peaceful purposes.

The dispute has left the agency without direct access to some of the most sensitive parts of Iran's nuclear infrastructure. The issue matters because inspections are a central safeguard in efforts to monitor Iran's nuclear activities and verify what is happening to its stockpiles of enriched uranium. Without access, outside powers have less visibility over the scale and condition of those materials.

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That increases uncertainty at a time when tensions between Iran and the United States remain high and the wider regional security picture is still unsettled. Grossi's comments also underline the continuing importance of the IAEA in any arrangement involving Iran's nuclear programme. The agency is responsible for monitoring compliance with nuclear safeguards and for reporting on the status of nuclear material.

In this case, the provisional understanding between Washington and Tehran appears to rely on the IAEA to oversee the parts of the programme covered by the deal, including the dilution of Iran's enriched uranium stocks. The backdrop to the current standoff is the 2025 Israeli offensive, which the report says lasted 12 days and was followed by tighter Iranian restrictions on access. Since then, the question of inspections has remained one of the most sensitive points in the nuclear file.

The report also notes that the United States and Iran have recently offered different versions of what would happen next, suggesting that the terms of any restart are still being contested. Grossi's statement suggests that the agency expects the impasse to be temporary, but it does not give a date for when inspectors will return. It remains unclear how quickly access can be restored, what sites will be included first, and whether the current political tensions could delay implementation.

The next developments to watch are any formal confirmation from Tehran, further US statements, and whether the IAEA is able to resume visits to the enrichment-related sites it has been unable to inspect.

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