The head of the U.N. nuclear agency said on Wednesday his inspectors would visit Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities, a key component of an interim deal between the United States and Iran, although Tehran denied any inspections had been scheduled.Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), made the remarks at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, which was hit by the tsunami.“I can understand political statements, they are part of reality, but what I want to remind you and bring to your attention is that the two presidents signed a memorandum of understanding,” Grossi told reporters. “This is going to happen.”He said the agreement “clearly stipulates in all correspondence that the nuclear activities to be carried out in relation to nuclear material facilities will be subject to the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency”.“Whether that happens the day after tomorrow, or within a week or 10 days, it’s important but not required,” he added.
Conflicting statements from the United States and Iran
The comments came as the United States and Iran issued conflicting statements about whether to inspect the sites. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told reporters in Tehran on Tuesday that U.N. inspectors had no plans to inspect the nuclear facilities bombed by the United States last year, rejecting comments made by U.S. Vice President Vance the day before.However, US President Donald Trump insisted on Tuesday that Iran was “fully in agreement” with allowing nuclear inspectors to return. “Iran has fully agreed to the highest level of nuclear inspections (unlimited!!!) for a long time to come,” Trump posted on the Truth Society. “This will ensure ‘nuclear honesty’.”Later in the day, Trump told reporters that IAEA inspectors would arrive at the site at the “appropriate time” and suggested Tehran was “wrong” that a visit was not scheduled. “If they were right, I would cancel the meeting right now,” he said.Since Israel launched a 12-day war against Iran in 2025, Tehran has blocked IAEA access to the Islamic Republic’s uranium enrichment sites, where it is believed to contain enough highly enriched uranium to potentially build up to 10 nuclear weapons. Iran has always maintained that its program is for peaceful purposes, even though it is the only country in the world that enriches uranium to a purity of up to 60% without a weapons program.Since the 2025 war, the IAEA has been allowed to visit Iran’s other nuclear facilities, such as the Bushehr nuclear power plant. But the IAEA says it cannot verify the status of Iran’s stockpiles or inspect the centrifuge cascades used to enrich uranium without access to enrichment plants.The United States and Iran reached a deal last week that requires Tehran to dilute its stockpile of enriched uranium and abandon U.S.-backed sanctions on the country, while giving both sides 60 days to finalize a broader deal.
