UN nuclear watchdog IAEA says inspections of Tehran’s uranium 'long overdue'

The UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned in its latest report that it has not been able to inspect Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile since the war between Israel and Iran in June. 

Addressing the issue on Wednesday, the IAEA stated that “the provision of such a report is indispensable for the Agency to provide assurances that nuclear material subject to safeguards in Iran remains in peaceful nuclear activities and that the facilities subject to safeguards are not misused.”

“The Agency’s lack of access to this nuclear material in Iran for five months means that its verification… is long overdue,” the UN watchdog warned. The UN nuclear agency believes that the Iranian regime still maintains some 441 kilograms (about 972 pounds) of uranium enriched up to the 60% level, which nuclear experts say it’s a shot step from the weapons-grade level of 90%. 

Last month, IAEA head Rafael Grossi warned in an interview with AP that the enriched stockpile would enable Iran to build up to 10 nuclear bombs if the ayatollah regime decides to cross the nuclear threshold and weaponize it.

“However, the nuclear material enriched at 60% is still in Iran,” Grossi warned. “And this is one of the points we are discussing because we need to go back there and to confirm that the material is there and it’s not being diverted to any other use."

“This is very, very important,” Grossi stressed. However, the IAEA chief stopped short of arguing that Tehran already had obtained nuclear weapons.

Earlier this month, Grossi told the Financial Times that Tehran should “seriously improve” its cooperation with UN inspectors or risk undermining its already strained relations with the United States and other leading Western powers. 

“We should have already resumed the inspection work,” Grossi told the news outlet.

The IAEA head also stressed that Iran must meet its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Tehran has signed. 

“You cannot say, ‘I remain within the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons treaty,’ and then not comply with obligations,” Grossi said.

Former IDF chief and former Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz warned last month that the Islamic Tehran regime remains a security threat to both Israel, the Middle East and the international community. 

“Iran is a global challenge, it's a regional challenge, and it's also a threat for the State of Israel. And I think the world and the region should be aware of what I've just said,” Gantz stated.

The Islamic Republic of Iran officially denies that it seeks nuclear weapons and claims that its nuclear facilities are only meant for civilian purposes. However, Tehran openly calls for Israel’s destruction and insists on enriching uranium up to the 60% level, which has no civilian applications. In addition, Iran has one of the world’s largest oil reserves and does not need nuclear power for civilian purposes. 

During its historic Operation Rising Lion in June, Israel and later the United States degraded much of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities. 

“Two weeks ago, on the night leading into Friday, the State of Israel launched Operation ‘Rising Lion’ to remove the existential threat from Iran to the State of Israel,” IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin stated in late June.

However, there are disagreements among security experts how much of Iran’s nuclear and missile assets that survived the Israeli and American military attacks.