IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said that Iran's enriched uranium is likely still being held at Iran's Isfahan nuclear complex.
The majority of Iran’s enriched uranium is likely at the Isfahan nuclear complex, which was struck both in the 12-day war in June and during Operations Roaring Lion and Epic Fury, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi told the Associated Press in an interview on Tuesday.
According to Grossi, the IAEA continues to get information through satellite images of the effects of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.
On June 9, 2025, just before the war started, images from an Airbus satellite showed a truck with 18 blue containers entering the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center. The containers are believed to contain highly enriched uranium and have likely not been moved, AP stated.
Grossi emphasized that the current IAEA statements on Iran’s nuclear materials and the state of the nuclear sites can only be an estimate, as although Iran is required to open its nuclear facilities to IAEA inspection as a part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the organization has not been able to visit the site.
“We haven’t been able to inspect or to reject that the material is there and that the seals, the IAEA seals, remain there. I hope that we’ll be able to do that, so what I tell you is our best estimate,” Grossi told AP.
In a UN press conference on Wednesday, Grossi said that an IAEA inspection was scheduled for a new uranium enrichment facility in Isfahan that Iran declared last June, but the strikes began on the date scheduled.
Russia offers to help with extraction of uranium
Grossi told AP that the IAEA has discussed the possibility of moving Iran’s enriched uranium out of the country with multiple parties, including Russia.
US President Donald Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to help the US handle the enriched uranium, but that Trump had responded that Putin should be more “involved with ending the war with Ukraine.”
The IAEA has also been in discussions with the US and informally with Iran, AP stated, citing Grossi. However, the IAEA has not been part of the ceasefire negotiations in Pakistan, despite participating in the nuclear talks in February.