U.N. agency pushes for access to key Iran nuclear site as Trump says deal to end war unnecessary

The United Nations nuclear watchdog agency is “increasingly concerned” about its lack of access to an underground Iranian uranium enrichment facility that Tehran has acknowledged exists, but refused to allow inspectors to visit, according to Reuters.

“The Agency does not know IFEP’s exact location, status for safeguards purposes or whether it contains nuclear material,” Reuters quoted the International Atomic Energy Agency as saying in a quarterly report to member states, referring to the Isfahan Fuel Enrichment Plant (IFEP). 

The IAEA asked Iran to allow inspectors to visit the IFEP in February, but Tehran refused, telling the U.N. agency that “conditions resulting from acts of aggression and the continuation of threats have created a situation in which the normal implementation of safeguards is legally untenable and materially impracticable.”

The refusal came after the U.S. and Israel pummeled Iranian nuclear sites, including Isfahan, with a wave of missile strikes in June 2025.

The IAEA said in a September report that, since then, it had observed, in satellite imagery, “regular vehicular activity around the entrance to the tunnel complex at Isfahan,” where the agency believes some of the Iran’s roughly 900-pound highly-enriched uranium stockpile is believed to have been buried by the June 2025 missile strikes.

“In light of this activity,” the IAEA said it requested in February that Iran give inspectors access “as soon as possible,” but Tehran has continued to refuse, the nuclear watchdog agency says, citing the attacks on its territory.

The Trump administration has framed Iran’s controversial nuclear program as the primary justification for the war, but it has vacillated during the conflict between suggesting Iran would give up its remaining stockpile voluntarily, to declaring the issue largely resolved.

“More than 80 percent of their nuclear industrial base — gone,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared earlier this week,” adding: “CRAZY ISLAMISTS IN TEHRAN WILL NEVER EVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON.”

But Iran has agreed to nothing so far regarding its uranium stockpiles or its enrichment program, including renewed IAEA inspections. It has refused to negotiate with the U.S. on the topic until a formal ceasefire is implemented.

On Wednesday, a top Iranian security official insisted Tehran would “not remove even a single particle of enriched nuclear material from the country.”

President Trump said Thursday that, “we don’t need a deal with Iran,” suggesting he may be willing to leave the matter unresolved.