IAEA chief says Iran nuclear inspections will proceed

U.N. nuclear inspectors will visit Iran’s enrichment sites under an interim U.S.-Iran agreement, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said Wednesday, even as Washington and Tehran offered conflicting accounts of what the deal requires and when inspections might take place.

Grossi, speaking at a news conference at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, said the memorandum of understanding signed last week by President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian explicitly gives the IAEA a supervisory role over Iran’s nuclear material facilities.

“I can understand political statements, they are part of the reality, but the fundamental thing I would like to remind you and draw your attention to is that there has been a Memorandum of Understanding, signed by both presidents,” Grossi said. The accord, he added, “says explicitly that the nuclear activities that are going to be carried out with regards to the nuclear material facilities will be supervised by the IAEA — in all letters.”

“Obviously, to do that, we will have to inspect,” Grossi said. “Whether this happens the day after tomorrow or in one week or in 10 days, it’s important, but not essential. This is going to happen.”

The inspections are central to the interim deal, which calls for Iran’s stockpile of uranium to be “downblended” from highly enriched levels. NPR reported that since Israel launched a 12-day war on Iran in 2025, Tehran has blocked the IAEA from visiting enrichment sites where Iran is believed to store enough highly enriched uranium to potentially build as many as 10 nuclear weapons if it chose to pursue them. Iran has long said its nuclear program is peaceful.

The agency has been allowed to visit other Iranian nuclear sites, including the Bushehr nuclear power plant, NPR reported. But without access to enrichment sites, the IAEA says it cannot verify the status of Iran’s stockpile or inspect centrifuge cascades used to enrich uranium. Both Iran and the IAEA say Tehran has not been enriching uranium, though NPR reported that nonproliferation experts worry Iran may be moving stockpiles to undeclared areas.

Iran gave no immediate response to Grossi’s comments. On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said U.N. inspectors were not scheduled to examine nuclear sites bombed by the U.S. last year, rejecting comments made a day earlier by Vice President JD Vance.

Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, framed the interim agreement as a victory for Tehran. “The Islamabad understanding was not the result of pressure and coercion, but rather the result of the resistance and authority of the brave Iranian nation,” he said Wednesday. “That is why, the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding became a declaration of America’s defeat.” He said security in the Middle East must be ensured by countries in the region.

The agreement opened a 60-day negotiating period in which Pakistani and other mediators hope to move the sides toward a permanent settlement. NPR reported that technical-level talks are expected to resume early next week at the Bürgenstock resort in Switzerland, citing Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in the Persian Gulf this week to discuss the memorandum with regional leaders. He began in the United Arab Emirates with closed-door talks and a private working lunch with President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, then was scheduled to travel to Kuwait and Bahrain for further meetings, including a Gulf Cooperation Council gathering.

Rubio said no country may impose tolls on the Strait of Hormuz after Oman and Iran, which border the waterway, said they were considering charging “costs” for navigation. “It’s an international waterway,” Rubio said in Abu Dhabi. “No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway. That’s existing international law.”

In Washington, the Senate voted 50-48 on Tuesday to approve a House-passed war powers resolution directing Trump to “remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” unless Congress declares war or authorizes force. Four Republicans joined most Democrats in support, while Democratic Sen. John Fetterman opposed it. The concurrent resolution does not carry the force of law and does not require the president’s signature, making it largely symbolic.

Trump also said Wednesday that he had directed the Justice Department to investigate gasoline prices, accusing major oil companies of failing to lower prices at the pump as crude prices fell. “Gasoline prices better start going down a lot faster than what I’m seeing!” he wrote on Truth Social.