UN agency can’t confirm Iran hasn’t diverted nuclear material from peaceful activity, report says

The UN’s nuclear watchdog cannot confirm that Iran hasn’t diverted nuclear material away from peaceful purposes, it says in a report.

Because of a lack of cooperation from Iran, the International Atomic Energy Agency “is not able to conclude that there has been no diversion of declared nuclear material from peaceful nuclear activities in Iran,” the report says.

The lack of clarity raises a “serious proliferation concern” that “needs to be rectified with the utmost urgency,” it says.

The IAEA board in September referred Iran to the UN Security Council, marking the first time Iran has been referred to the UN’s top body in 20 years for failing to comply with its nuclear reporting obligations.

Before Israel and the US struck Iran’s nuclear sites in June 2025, the IAEA calculated that Iran possessed approximately 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent, nearing the 90% needed to make a bomb and well above the 3.67-percent limit set by a now-defunct 2015 agreement with Iran.

Since June 2025, the fate of Iran’s nuclear stockpile has remained uncertain. Iran has long denied striving to develop a nuclear bomb but has obstructed inspectors, expanded its ballistic missile program and enriched uranium far above the levels needed for civilian applications.

IAEA head Rafael Grossi said in June that the “widespread impression” was that the stockpile remained where it was before June 2025, near the Isfahan Fuel Enrichment Plant.