Overview
- IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has told reporters this week that inspectors will need to and will visit Iran’s uranium enrichment sites to implement the memorandum of understanding between Tehran and Washington.
- The interim MoU requires Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium to be downblended under IAEA supervision, a condition Grossi says makes on‑site inspection unavoidable.
- President Donald J. Trump has said US inspectors will join IAEA missions “at the appropriate time,” but Tehran’s deputy foreign minister says there is currently no plan to admit inspectors to sites damaged in 2025 and that access must wait for a final deal and sanctions relief.
- The IAEA says technical talks with Iran have only just begun and called for a “very strong” verification system to confirm the fate and location of the roughly 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent that it recorded before the 2025 strikes.
- The dispute over timing, scope and possible US participation in inspections is the central sticking point for implementing the MoU and could determine whether downblending, release of frozen assets, and a wider ceasefire move ahead, with consequences for regional trade through the Strait of Hormuz and everyday life inside Iran.