IAEA seeks access to Iran nuclear sites to 'account for' highly enriched uranium stockpiles

IAEA seeks access to Iran nuclear sites to 'account for' highly enriched uranium stockpiles
by AFP Staff Writers
Vienna (AFP) June 23, 2025

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog on Monday called for its inspectors to be able to return to Iran's nuclear sites in a bid to "account for" its highly enriched uranium stockpiles.

He called for a cessation of hostilities.

The request follows attacks by Israel and the United States on Iran's nuclear facilities.

"Iran, Israel and the Middle East need peace," Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told an emergency meeting of the organisation's board of governors in Vienna.

"For that, we must take a number of steps," he said.

"First of all, we must return to the negotiating table and for that allow IAEA inspectors -- the guardians on our behalf of the NPT (nuclear non-proliferation treaty) -- to go back to Iran's nuclear sites and account for the stockpiles of uranium, including, most importantly, the 400 kilogrammes enriched to 60 percent."

Grossi said Tehran had sent him a letter on June 13 announcing the implementation of "special measures to protect nuclear equipment and materials".

"There needs to be a cessation of hostilities for the necessary safety and security conditions to prevail so that Iran can let IAEA teams into the sites to assess the situation," he said.

Over the weekend, the United States struck three Iranian nuclear sites, joining Israel's bombardments of Iran's nuclear programme.

"Craters are now visible at the Fordo site, Iran's main facility for enriching uranium at 60 percent, indicating the use of ground-penetrating munitions," he said.

He added that "very significant damage" is expected to have occurred for the US bombing "given the explosive payload utilised and the extreme vibration-sensitive nature of centrifuges".

"At this time, no-one including the IAEA, is in a position to have fully assessed the underground damage at Fordo," he said.

The US strikes came after Israel began launching large-scale attacks on Iran on June 13 targeting its missile and nuclear facilities, military leaders and security services, and residential sites.

Iran's uranium enrichment has for decades caused tension, with Western powers voicing fears the drive is aimed at making an atomic bomb, a claim denied by Tehran.

Israel has maintained ambiguity about its own atomic arsenal, neither officially confirming nor denying it exists, but the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has estimated it has 90 nuclear warheads.

European powers have urged Tehran to revive diplomatic efforts with the United States to find a solution in the standoff over its nuclear programme.

Iran has said it can only consider diplomacy once Israel halts its bombardment of the Islamic republic.

Iran-Israel war: latest developments
Jerusalem (AFP) June 23, 2025 - Israel struck Tehran and Iran fired missiles on Monday, as the war between the longtime foes raged for its 11th day after the United States sent bombers to attack the Islamic republic's nuclear sites.

Here are the latest developments:

- Iran Guards, Tehran prison -

Israel carried out "strikes of unprecedented force against regime targets and agencies of government oppression in the heart of Tehran", Defence Minister Israel Katz said as an AFP journalist heard loud blasts in the north of the Iranian capital.

Katz said the targets included the notorious Evin prison in the city's north, known to hold political prisoners and dissidents as well as foreign detainees.

Iran's judiciary confirmed Evin was struck, reporting "damage" and stressing the situation was "under control".

Israel also carried out a strike on Fordo, according to the military and Iranian media, a day after US "bunker buster" bombs hit the underground nuclear site south of Tehran.

In Israel, air raid sirens sent people to bomb shelters on Monday, with the military reporting at least three missile barrages in less than two hours.

The state power company said that "damage near a strategic infrastructure facility" in Israel's south caused outages. In Tehran, authorities said electricity supply disrupted by an Israeli attack was restored.

Israeli strikes on Iran since June 13 have killed more than 400 people, Iran's health ministry said. Iran's attacks on Israel have killed 24 people, according to official figures.

- 'Extension of war' -

Iran's armed forces threatened on Monday to inflict "serious, unpredictable consequences" on the United States in retaliation for its strikes on the Isfahan, Natanz and Fordo nuclear sites.

"This hostile act... will widen the scope of legitimate targets of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran and pave the way for the extension of war in the region," said armed forces spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari.

Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said bases used by US forces "in the region or elsewhere" could be attacked.

The US embassy in Bahrain -- home to a major US military base -- reduced on-site staffing citing "heightened regional tensions".

- 'Spillover' -

China on Monday warned against "the spillover of war", urging the international community to do more to prevent the fighting from impacting the world's economy, noting the global importance of the Gulf maritime trade routes off the Iranian coast.

Oil prices briefly fell into the red on Monday after surging, as traders weighed possible retaliation by Iran.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on China to help deter Iran from closing the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for one-fifth of the world's oil supply.

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said closing the strait would be "extremely dangerous".

Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed attacks on Iran as "unprovoked" and "unjustified" in a Moscow meeting with Tehran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, without announcing any concrete support to his key ally in the Middle East.

- Nuclear stockpiles -

The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency demanded Monday the return of inspectors to Iran's nuclear sites in a bid to "account for" its highly enriched uranium stockpiles.

"Allow IAEA inspectors... to go back to Iran's nuclear sites and account for the stockpiles of uranium" including the "400 kilograms enriched to 60 percent", said agency chief Rafael Grossi.

At an emergency meeting of the organisation's headquarters in Vienna, he said Tehran had sent him a letter on June 13 announcing the implementation of "special measures to protect nuclear equipment and materials".