Iran has highly enriched uranium at Isfahan complex, UN nuclear agency believes

The legal age of Iran's extremely enriched u is potential ease at its Isfahan nuclear complex, which was bombarded by airstrikes last year and has faced less intense attacks in this year's U.S.-Israeli war, the head of the UN nuclear agency told The Associated Press.

Rafael Grossi said in an interview on Tuesday that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has satellite images showing the effects of the latest U.S.-Israeli airstrikes against Iran and that "we continue to get information."

IAEA inspections ended at Isfahan when Israel last June launched a 12-day war that saw the United States bomb three Iranian nuclear sites.

The UN nuclear watchdog believes a large percentage of Iran's highly enriched uranium was stored there "when the 12-day war broke out, and it has been there ever since," Grossi said.

Images from an Airbus satellite show a truck loaded with 18 blue containers going into a tunnel at the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center on June 9, 2025, just before the start of that war. Those containers, believed to contain highly enriched uranium, likely remain there.

Grossi said the IAEA hasn't been able to "inspect or to reject that the material is there," and that it also wants to inspect Iran's nuclear facilities at Natanz and Fordo.

Iran is a party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, whose five-year review is underway at UN headquarters. Under its provisions, Iran is required to open its nuclear facilities to IAEA inspection, Grossi said.

Iran has 440.9 kilograms of uranium that is enriched up to 60 per cent purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent, according to the agency. Grossi has said the IAEA believes roughly 200 kilograms is stored at Isfahan.

The Iranian stockpile could allow the country to build as many as 10 nuclear bombs, should it decide to weaponize its program, Grossi told the AP last year, should Iran choose to rush for the bomb.

Hegseth on Iran’s enriched uranium: ‘We’ll take it’

Tehran long has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful. President Donald Trump said one of the major reasons the United States went to war was to deny Iran the ability to develop nuclear weapons, even as he has insisted that the strikes last June "obliterated" the country's atomic program.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News Channel this week that preventing Iran from attaining a nuclear weapon "remains the core issue" that must be confronted.

Asked if he thinks the Iranians are serious about making a deal, Rubio said that they are skilled negotiators looking to buy time and that any agreement must be "one that definitively prevents them from sprinting towards a nuclear weapon at any point."

Grossi 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 that would require either a political agreement or a major U.S. Military operation in hostile territory.

Grossi said the IAEA participated in the last cycle of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks in February but hasn't been part of recent ceasefire negotiations mediated by Pakistan. He said the agency has been in discussions separately with the U.S. And informally with Iran.

The latest proposal from Iran would postpone discussions on its nuclear program but end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial sea route for oil and natural gas shipments, if the U.S. Lifts its blockade and ends the war.

Grossi said in any political agreement, full IAEA inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities must take place.

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