UN nuclear chief says inspectors will visit Iran sites as part of war deal

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - VIENNA — The head of the global nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday it will carry out inspections in Iran under the country's interim peace agreement with the United States although Tehran indicated that access to key sites remained contingent on a final agreement and sanctions lifting.

Iran and the United States signed a 14-point memorandum of understanding last week setting out broad agreements in principle to end the war. The interim accord paved the ​way for 60 days of talks aimed at hammering out thornier details, including issues related to Iran's nuclear program.

"The inspections ​will indeed take place," International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi told a press conference in Japan, ⁠an audio recording of which the IAEA posted online.

“There’s a war of words here,” said Grossi, referring to White House statements about monitoring that were disputed by Iran.

"We will be working on the modalities — dates, procedures, places — very soon," he ​said of discussions with Tehran.

Iran's deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Wednesday that there were currently no plans to grant access ​to attacked nuclear facilities or nuclear material. He said such issues would only be addressed within the framework of a final agreement with Washington and after "practical steps" to lift US sanctions on Iran.

The agreement signed last week said "explicitly" that the dilution of Iran's highly enriched uranium would be carried out under IAEA supervision, he added.

Grossi's comments come as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is visiting Gulf nations to discuss the US deal with Iran. On Wednesday he met UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and is due to travel to Kuwait and Bahrain.

The initial US-Iran agreement also said that Iran would allow shipping to pass through the Strait of Hormuz while the US would lift a naval blockade on Iranian ports.

Meanwhile the UN said some ships had already passed through the strait under a scheme to evacuate thousands of sailors who have been stranded on vessels because of the war.

There has been a dispute between the US and Iran over the issue of UN nuclear inspectors visiting sites in the country.

On Monday, following talks in Switzerland with Iran's chief negotiator, US Vice President JD Vance said Iran had "agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into their country".

The next day, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said there had been "no detailed discussions" and that Iran had no plans to grant IAEA inspectors access to nuclear facilities which were bombed by the US during a 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June 2025.

US President Donald Trump then dismissed Iran's "protestations and false statements to the contrary", saying the country had "fully and completely agreed" to inspections.

"There's a war or words here. Some say 'yes', the others say 'no'," the IAEA's chief said on Wednesday. "I can understand political statements. They are part of the reality.

"But the fundamental thing... is that there has been a memorandum of understanding signed by both presidents," he added. "[It] says explicitly that the nuclear activities that are going to be carried out, with regards to nuclear material, facilities, will be supervised by the IAEA, in bold letters. This is going to happen."

Grossi said the inspections would take place in collaboration and co-operation with the Iranian government. "Whether this happens the day after tomorrow, or in one week, or in 10 days, it's important but not essential."

Under the 14-point memorandum of understanding, the US and Iran have committed to negotiating a final deal within 60 days.

It says they have "agreed to resolve the disposition of stockpiled enriched material, pursuant to a mechanism that will be mutually agreed upon... with the minimum methodology to be down-blending on site under the supervision of the IAEA".

The IAEA said in a recent report that its inspectors were allowed to visit Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant earlier this month, but that they were still not given access to the sensitive nuclear facilities that were bombed last June.

The watchdog said that meant it could not provide any information on the current size, composition or whereabouts of Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium, or whether Iran had suspended all enrichment activities. Much of the stockpile is believed to be inside underground tunnels at the Isfahan site.

Enriched uranium can be used to make reactor fuel but also nuclear weapons.

Before the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran on 28 February, the IAEA reported that Iran had 440kg (970 lbs) of uranium that was enriched up to 60% purity, which is near weapons grade. That would theoretically be enough, if enriched to 90%, for as many as 10 bombs.

Iran insists its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful and that it would never seek to develop or acquire nuclear weapons.

Under a 2015 deal with the US and five other world powers, Iran agreed to limit its nuclear activities and allow continuous and robust monitoring by the IAEA's inspectors in return for relief from crippling economic sanctions.

However, Trump abandoned the agreement during his first term in 2018, saying it did too little to stop a pathway to a bomb, and reinstated US sanctions.

Iran retaliated by increasingly breaching the restrictions of the deal, particularly those relating to uranium enrichment.