IAEA chief Rafael Grossi asks for a swift return of inspectors to Iran

27 October 2026

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has urged a swift return of inspectors to Iran, telling the United Nations General Assembly that the diplomatic basis for an agreement exists and that the return of inspectors requires a return to the negotiating table. He warned that the global non-proliferation system is becoming more fragile. Iran has sharply restricted access to its nuclear sites since the strikes of June 2025 during a twelve-day war with Israel. The agency estimated in March that just over 200 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 per cent remained at Isfahan, with more at Natanz. In September the agency's Board of Governors referred Iran's non-compliance to the United Nations Security Council, a step Tehran contests. Grossi also described the agency's work in Ukraine, where it has arranged eight localised ceasefires to repair power lines at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and has carried out 287 missions since the full-scale invasion by Russia in 2022.