IAEA raises alarm over lack of access to Iran’s Isfahan enrichment plant
Iran declared the plant a day before the June 2025 war began, and the UN nuclear watchdog has yet to inspect it or verify its exact location
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday it was “increasingly concerned” that Iran had yet to grant inspectors access to a uranium enrichment plant it declared in Isfahan last year, according to a confidential report reviewed by Reuters.
The UN nuclear watchdog told member states it still did not know exactly where the Isfahan Fuel Enrichment Plant was located, what its status was under nuclear safeguards or whether it held any nuclear material. Iran had also withheld the plant’s design plans, the agency said.
Iran notified the IAEA of the plant on June 12, 2025. Inspectors were due to visit the next day, but the start of the 12-day bombing campaign prevented the inspection. Israeli and US strikes during the campaign destroyed or severely damaged Iran’s other enrichment plants. Iran has since denied inspectors access to every nuclear site hit in the strikes.
US strikes hit tunnel entrances at the Isfahan nuclear complex in June 2025. Diplomats cited by Reuters believe the enrichment plant is inside the tunnel network. Iran told the IAEA in February that the plant itself had come under attack, but the agency has been unable to verify that claim and says it still does not know the plant’s exact location.
In March, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said the agency believed the tunnels held a significant share of Iran’s most highly enriched uranium.
The IAEA urged Tehran to disclose the condition of its enrichment facilities and account for its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, some of which is close to weapons grade. It also called for inspectors to return to the damaged sites and verify the stockpile. The agency described the lack of access and information as a “serious proliferation concern” that required urgent action.