The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog has warned that a credible peace agreement with Iran must include rigorous, independently verified inspections of the country's nuclear programme — or risk amounting to nothing more than an illusion. Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), made the remarks on Wednesday as diplomatic efforts to end the recent conflict between Iran, Israel, and the United States showed signs of renewed momentum, with President Donald Trump indicating that a second round of talks could take place within days.
"Iran has a very ambitious, wide nuclear programme. So all of that will require the presence of IAEA inspectors; otherwise you will not have an agreement, you will have an illusion of an agreement," Grossi said, adding that he expected the agency to be formally called upon to provide verification once a deal is reached. His comments follow an initial round of talks held last weekend in Pakistan that ended without agreement. Washington attributed the breakdown to Iran's refusal to limit its nuclear ambitions, though an unnamed Iranian diplomatic official denied that the nuclear issue had caused the collapse of negotiations.
The stakes of verification are underscored by a confidential IAEA report circulated to member states in February, which noted that Iran has not permitted inspectors access to nuclear facilities struck by Israel and the United States during a 12-day conflict last June. As a result, the agency said it "cannot verify whether Iran has suspended all enrichment-related activities" or determine the size of Iran's uranium stockpile at the affected sites. According to the IAEA, Iran had been maintaining roughly 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% purity — a technically short step from the 90% threshold required for weapons-grade material, and enough, experts say, for as many as ten nuclear devices if weaponised.
Iran, a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), has consistently maintained that its programme is for civilian purposes such as energy production and medical research. That position was reinforced by the IAEA itself when it confirmed Iran's compliance with the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) until the United States unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in 2018 under Trump. The Trump administration has identified preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon as a central war aim, though as recently as early 2025, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified to Congress that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon.
The situation has also renewed broader debates about unequal international scrutiny of nuclear programmes in the Middle East. Critics and non-proliferation advocates point out that Israel, widely believed to possess between 80 and 200 nuclear warheads at its Dimona facility in the Negev desert, has never signed the NPT and faces no comparable international pressure for transparency or inspections — a contrast that Iran and other observers describe as a double standard. Whatever the outcome of ongoing negotiations, Grossi made clear that the IAEA's role will be indispensable: verified disarmament, not diplomatic assurances alone, must form the foundation of any durable agreement.