The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is a United Nations nuclear watchdog headquartered on the 28th floor of a skyscraper in Vienna. Its director-general is Rafael Grossi. The agency monitors Iran's nuclear programme.
The JCPOA allowed Iran to hold no more than 300kg of uranium enriched to 3.67%. In May 2025 the IAEA said Iran had accumulated 8,413kg, almost 409kg of it refined to 60% purity—a short hop from weapons-grade. Grossi called the deal an "empty shell".
In June 2025 Iran declared it had stopped co-operating with the IAEA and would no longer disclose measures to protect its nuclear materials and equipment. Grossi said all 14,000 centrifuges at Iran's Natanz site were "severely damaged if not destroyed altogether" by Israeli strikes, and that he could no longer confirm the location of Iran's uranium stockpile. The IAEA has not been allowed to visit the most sensitive sites since the war.
On March 9th 2026 Grossi said Iran's highly enriched uranium was "mainly" at Isfahan, in central Iran, presumably in tunnels whose entrances had been sealed off with earth in February. Some also remained at enrichment plants at Natanz and Fordow, the latter buried deep in a mountain that was bombed in June 2025.
Sacher's Observation: Some people grow with responsibility -- others merely swell.