UN nuclear inspectors have carried out their first visit to Iran since June, resuming limited work at the Bushehr nuclear power plant. The inspection, confirmed Wednesday by IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, marks a partial return of oversight but stops short of full access to Iran’s nuclear network.
“Today they are inspecting Bushehr,” Grossi told AFP, while stressing that access to other facilities—including those hit during June 13 US–Israeli airstrikes—remains unresolved. The strikes, which targeted nuclear and military sites and killed more than 1,000 people according to Iranian sources, prompted Tehran to suspend cooperation with the agency.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said no final framework for cooperation has yet been agreed with the IAEA. For now, oversight is restricted to specific tasks such as supervising fuel replacement at Bushehr, Iranian officials said.
Grossi, speaking in Washington, urged Iran to allow broader inspections. “There is no such thing as a la carte inspection work,” he said, calling the current talks a “litmus test” of Tehran’s diplomatic intent.
Meanwhile, Iranian negotiators met representatives of Britain, France, and Germany in Geneva over the possible reactivation of UN “snapback” sanctions under the 2015 nuclear deal. The deadline to trigger sanctions expires on October 18.
Tehran has warned that activating the mechanism would collapse its fragile engagement with the IAEA. Deputy foreign minister Karim Gharibabadi said: “The path of interaction we have now opened with the international atomic energy agency will also be completely affected and will probably stop.”
Russia has circulated a draft UN resolution to extend the snapback deadline by six months, describing it as a test of international willingness to avoid escalation. “This will be kind of a litmus test for those who really want to uphold diplomatic efforts,” said Russian deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy.
