UN nuclear watchdog urges Iran to take 'steps' towards inspections

The UN's nuclear watchdog urged Iran to take "incremental steps" to allow inspectors to return to key nuclear facilities in the Islamic republic, adding such access was "critical" in a report seen by AFP Friday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has not had access to key nuclear facilities in Iran since Israel, joined by the United States, launched a 12-day conflict in June 2025 that included strikes on nuclear sites.

Nuclear facilities have also been hit in the latest war, which erupted on 28 February, and the IAEA has repeatedly called for access.

In its report, to be discussed at an IAEA board of governors meeting next week, the agency noted that it was "critical" for it to conduct "verification activities in Iran without further delay".

"The director general encourages Iran to consider technical and gradual measures by which conditions are achieved that allow for the return of agency inspectors to Iran," the report said.

"Such incremental steps could pave the way to normal safeguards implementation in Iran while contributing to a confidence-building atmosphere conducive to a wider agreement," it added.

The report detailed correspondence in recent weeks between the IAEA and Iran.

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IAEA inspectors were able to visit Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant in September, but have had no access to other facilities.

The IAEA "acknowledged that the military attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities and sites created an unprecedented situation".

But because of a lack of cooperation "the agency is not able to conclude that there has been no diversion of declared nuclear material from peaceful nuclear activities in Iran", the report said.

"The agency's lack of information about ... nuclear material and access to facilities to verify it is a matter of serious proliferation concern," the IAEA said, adding it "needs to be rectified with the utmost urgency".

The IAEA board in September referred Iran to the UN Security Council over its nuclear "non-compliance", marking the first time Iran has been referred to the UN top body in 20 years for failing to comply with its nuclear reporting obligations.

Before the June 2025 strikes, the IAEA calculated that Iran possessed approximately 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%, nearing the 90% needed to make a bomb and well above the 3.67% limit set by a 2015 now-defunct agreement with Iran.

Since June 2025, the fate of the stockpile has remained uncertain.

Iran has long denied striving to develop a nuclear bomb.