Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran’s regime Atomic Energy Organization, said in a written interview with Japan’s Kyodo News that until what he called “special precautionary measures” are carried out following Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) cannot be fully resumed.
In this interview, Eslami said the current security situation, amid the risk of future Israeli attacks, “remains similar to wartime,” and that trust in the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency must be rebuilt.
He said, “This is the first time in history that protected nuclear facilities have come under military attack,” adding: “Before inspections return to normal, special precautionary measures must be taken.”
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On June 13, 2025, Israel launched its attacks on Iran’s regime, during which many senior military commanders and dozens of operators of the regime’s nuclear program were killed. During this war, the United States also targeted three of the regime’s main nuclear sites in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.
According to Kyodo News, following these attacks, Iran’s regime parliament passed a law suspending cooperation with the IAEA, effectively halting most of the agency’s inspection activities in Iran.
Afterward, IAEA inspectors left Iran, while the regime openly criticized Rafael Grossi, the IAEA Director General.
In this criticism, which continued months of prior attacks by regime officials, Grossi was accused of failing to protect confidential information and of yielding to Western pressure.
On September 9, Rafael Grossi, IAEA Director General, and Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s regime foreign minister, reached an agreement in Cairo on a new mechanism for continued cooperation between the two sides.
According to the report, the Tehran-IAEA understanding, known as the “Cairo Agreement,” establishes a practical mechanism for cooperation reflecting the “extraordinary conditions” created by the attacks on the regime’s nuclear facilities and the ongoing threats against them.
On September 10, Grossi said: “The technical document covers all facilities and sites in Iran and also includes mandatory reporting on all attacked facilities, including the nuclear material contained in them.”
However, in a contradictory statement, Araghchi said on September 10 that under this agreement, “no access will be given to IAEA inspectors except for the Bushehr nuclear power plant.”
Subsequently, IRNA, the official news agency of the regime, wrote that the Cairo document is “not a blank check” and that the IAEA’s activities in Iran are “conditional.”
In a September 13 report, IRNA wrote that if the West takes action against Iran’s regime, the agreement with the IAEA will be canceled.
The Iran-IAEA agreement came after August 28, when the three European signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA)—France, the UK, and Germany—sent a letter to the UN Security Council triggering the 30-day snapback mechanism to reimpose UN sanctions.
Eslami told Kyodo News: “With efforts to fully implement the agreement, Iran has agreed to limited internal inspections during this period, including at the Bushehr nuclear power plant, but the parliament remains cautious about possible leaks of information that could expose vulnerabilities.”
He also stated that “the threats of our enemies remain,” adding: “All countries place nothing above their sovereignty and national security.”
Western governments have pressured the IAEA to continue strict monitoring of the regime’s enriched uranium stockpiles.
According to Kyodo News, Eslami accused Western countries of what he called “misusing the IAEA for political purposes.” He also claimed the agency had lost its independence, describing its failure to “condemn Israeli and U.S. attacks on the regime’s nuclear facilities” as “an unforgivable mistake that will be recorded in history.”
Earlier, on September 12, a U.S. State Department spokesperson told Al Arabiya news channel that the United States was awaiting clarification on the details of the Tehran-IAEA agreement.
He added: “It is essential to reach an agreement under which Iran abandons its ambition to build nuclear weapons and halts enrichment. Such a step would benefit the people of Iran, the region, and the world.”
He stressed: “If this goal is not achieved, the United States will continue to hold Iran accountable for its actions.”
The Al Arabiya report did not name the U.S. official.
Iran’s regime has only until September 30 to reach an agreement with the West and prevent the return of sanctions.
