Officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency will meet U.S. counterparts in Washington next week amid mounting alarm over the agency’s inability to verify the status and location of Iran’s near-weapons-grade uranium, diplomats told Bloomberg. The consultations follow an unsuccessful mission by chief inspector Massimo Aparo, acting on behalf of IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, to persuade Tehran to restore monitoring after a 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June.
According to the diplomats cited by American and Israeli media, Aparo failed to secure Iran’s consent to reinstate access to key sites after inspectors were expelled during the June hostilities. This move effectively halted global scrutiny of the scope and intent of Tehran’s nuclear activities. The IAEA has grown increasingly pessimistic about prospects for a rapid return, they said.
Tehran argues that chemical and radiological hazards at bomb-damaged facilities make inspections unsafe. On August 11, Iranian officials told Aparo that visits might soon be permitted at unaffected locations, including the Russian-built nuclear power station on the Persian Gulf, but access would remain barred to its primary fuel facility, Bloomberg reported. Satellite images dated June 14 suggest significant damage at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, despite Iranian officials downplaying the impact.
The most urgent concern centers on 409 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent—material that can be converted relatively quickly to weapons-grade. IAEA figures compiled by Bloomberg indicate that the stock was moved on June 13 to an undisclosed location, and the agency has been unable to verify its whereabouts since then. While U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said airstrikes “obliterated” parts of Iran’s enrichment system, Iran still retains the material and technical knowledge to pursue a bomb should Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei decide to do so, Bloomberg noted.
Iran maintains its nuclear program is civilian. Both IAEA inspectors and U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Iran has not had an active nuclear weapons program since the early 2000s, according to Bloomberg. “We have not reached the point of cutting off cooperation with the agency, but future cooperation will certainly not resemble the past,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the state-run IRNA, in comments cited by Bloomberg.
Diplomats said the IAEA is preparing a dossier of past inspector deployments in hazardous environments—including Japan’s Fukushima disaster zone and war-torn Ukraine—to argue that safety concerns should not preclude access in Iran. Even so, the agency’s visibility is eroding: last year, 274 inspectors carried out nearly 500 inspections in Iran, but many are now being reassigned, raising fears that institutional knowledge will atrophy.
Financial pressures are compounding the crisis. Member states are hesitant to add funding, and one diplomat questioned how the $23 million Grossi requested for Iran monitoring would be used if inspections remain blocked, Bloomberg reported.
The Washington talks are scheduled to take place ahead of an August deadline in Europe. EU powers have warned they will seek the reimposition of UN sanctions unless Iran resumes negotiations and allows inspections. Tehran has rejected the warning as unlawful and has threatened to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, according to Bloomberg.
Parallel diplomatic efforts remain fragile. In an interview with the Financial Times, Iranian Foreign Minister said Iran will not return to “business as usual” with Washington unless the U.S. compensates Tehran for damages from last month’s conflict and guarantees it will not carry out similar attacks during any renewed talks. Araghchi said he exchanged messages with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff during and after the fighting, calling the path to negotiations “narrow, but not impossible,” if trust-building steps are taken.