IAEA reports no major change in Iran nuclear assessment despite three months of conflict

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported no major changes in its assessments of Iran’s nuclear program since clashes between the US, Israel, and Iran began approximately three months ago, according to a report sent to United Nations (UN) member states on Thursday.

The confidential report, reviewed by the Reuters news agency ahead of next week’s meeting of the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors, revealed very few differences compared to previous reports prepared before the conflict began.

In the report, the agency reiterated its call for Iranian officials to provide updated information on the status of their enriched uranium stockpiles.

According to Reuters, the report stated: “The Director General has stressed that the effective implementation of Iran’s Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) Safeguards Agreement is mandatory and urgent, and that this implementation cannot be suspended by Iran under any circumstances.”

Since Israel and the US bombed the nuclear installations for the first time last June, the UN nuclear watchdog has been unable to return to these sites, and Iran has not shared updated data regarding the status of its stockpiles.

“The issue of the Agency losing continuity of knowledge regarding all previously declared nuclear material at the affected facilities in Iran needs to be addressed with extreme urgency,” the confidential report warned, referring to the sites affected by the US and Israeli bombardments.

Iran’s nuclear program became one of the primary triggers of the conflict, with the Trump administration asserting that Iran posed an “imminent nuclear threat.”

The issue also represents one of the greatest impasses in the recent round of negotiations aimed at ending the conflict.

Nevertheless, both sides have reached a tentative agreement to extend the delicate ceasefire in the three-month conflict for an additional 60 days, reopen the Strait of Hormuz to transit, and establish a framework mechanism for comprehensive talks on the future of Iran’s nuclear program and stockpiles.

However, this emerging memorandum of understanding still awaits approval from President Donald Trump and Iranian leaders.

According to a report by The Associated Press, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio painted an optimistic picture of the talks between the US and Iran during his testimony on Tuesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Appropriations Subcommittee.

“Just a month ago, they agreed to negotiate certain aspects of their nuclear program that a year ago they refused to even mention,” Rubio told senators, later adding that instability within the Iranian leadership has complicated the talks.

Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance noted last Thursday that negotiators continue to exchange proposals on certain terms of the agreement, including Iran’s nuclear capacity.