Iran’s highly enriched uranium is likely still in place at the Isfahan nuclear complex, where the UN nuclear watchdog’s inspections have been halted by fighting, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Rafael Grossi said the IAEA has satellite images showing the effects of the latest U.S.-Israeli airstrikes against Iran and that “we continue to get information,” while the agency remains unable to send inspectors back to verify what is stored. Grossi said the IAEA believes a large portion of Iran’s highly enriched uranium “was stored there in June 2025 when the 12-day war broke out, and it has been there ever since,” adding that he can offer “our best estimate” because the IAEA has been unable to inspect or to reject that the material and the “IAEA seals” still remain.
Grossi said the inspections at Isfahan ended after Israel launched a 12-day war last June that included U.S. strikes against three Iranian nuclear sites. He said the IAEA has also been studying evidence from the site itself, including images of truck movements and containers recorded around the time the war began.
In the IAEA chief’s account, satellite imagery from an Airbus platform showed a truck loaded with 18 blue containers moving into a tunnel at the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center on June 9, 2025, just before the war started. Grossi said the containers, believed to contain highly enriched uranium, likely remain there.
Grossi said the IAEA has been trying to address what it cannot confirm on the ground. “We haven’t been able to inspect or to reject that the material is there and that the seals — the IAEA seals — remain there,” he said, describing the limits imposed by the security situation around the facility.
He also said the IAEA wants to inspect Iran’s other nuclear sites at Natanz and Fordo, where he said there is also some nuclear material. Iran is a party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and Grossi said that under its provisions Iran is required to open nuclear facilities to IAEA inspection.
Iran has said its nuclear program is peaceful, and Grossi described how the agency views Iran’s enrichment progress over time. He said Iran has 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60% purity, a short technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%, and that the IAEA believes roughly 200 kilograms (about 440 pounds) is stored in tunnels at Isfahan. He said that stockpile could give Iran the ability to produce multiple nuclear weapons if Tehran chose to weaponize its program, a contention Grossi discussed in earlier remarks to AP.
Grossi also addressed the diplomacy around nuclear material management amid the war. He said the IAEA has discussed with Russia and others the possibility of sending Iran’s highly enriched uranium out of the country, a “complex operation” requiring either a political agreement or a major U.S. military operation in hostile territory. He said the IAEA has also talked about other options such as blending the material to reduce enrichment.
Grossi said he participated in U.S.-Iran nuclear talks in February but has not been part of recent ceasefire negotiations mediated by Pakistan. He said the IAEA has held discussions separately with the U.S. and informally with Iran.
The comments came as President Donald Trump and other officials continued to signal their positions on negotiations. Trump told reporters Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin renewed an offer to help the U.S. handle Iran’s enriched uranium, and Trump said he told Putin it was more important for Russia “be involved with ending the war with Ukraine.” Grossi, in contrast, said the key goal is that the material either leaves Iran or is blended to reduce its enrichment.
Grossi also said the prospect of a deal depends on what he described as “political will” from Tehran, adding that Iran has to be convinced that negotiating matters. He said he has seen “apparently” an interest on both sides to reach an agreement, though he said the two sides appear not to agree “on what needs to be done first” or “on how.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Grossi said, told Fox News Channel that Iran’s leaders are skilled negotiators seeking to buy time and that any agreement must “definitively prevent them from sprinting towards a nuclear weapon at any point.”