Nuclear watchdog chief warns Iran maintains ‘many capabilities’ as Iranian officials block inspections

As the U.S.-Iran conflict stretches into its sixth month, the leader of the United Nations’ global nuclear watchdog acknowledged on Wednesday that Iran maintains “many capabilities” in its nuclear program — just as Iranian officials insisted that they’d continue to block inspections of enrichment facilities for the time being.

When questioned by Scripps News about the current status of Iran’s nuclear program, International Atomic Energy Association Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said that “pause” would be “an accurate way to describe at least [the] nuclear chapter of that process.”

“We need to find an adequate solution, long-standing and I would say predictable status quo when it comes to the nuclear issue in Iran,” Grossi added. “We have to remember that there’s still 440 kilograms — hundreds of pounds — of highly enriched uranium, 60%. There are many capabilities that are still there.”

RELATED STORY | Iran’s president says US memorandum is best path out of stalled war

Grossi’s comments — delivered during a press conference with U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright touting ATLAS, a new initiative to develop nuclear energy at sea — come as the diplomatic path to ending the Iran war remains far from reach.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump announced he’d suspended all U.S. talks with Iranian leaders after a memorandum of understanding brokering a short-term ceasefire between the nations fell apart amid strikes on both sides.

On Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced “Operation Economic Outcast,” a new initiative aimed at further degrading Iran’s economy to force Iranian officials to make concessions. Bessent levied the threat of secondary sanctions on Iran’s trading partners — a major escalation that brings with it significant downsides for the global economy.

As of Wednesday, however, no such sanctions had been announced. Bessent said Trump administration officials would be speaking with foreign leaders throughout the week, with the hope that the threat of such actions would force them to divest from Iran’s economy.

Iranian officials, meanwhile, indicated Wednesday they were maintaining a block IAEA inspections of nuclear sites while the conflict persisted.

“The country is still in a wartime situation, and conditions are not yet such that we can assume the war has ended and the sites are secure,” said Mohammad Eslami, Iran’s nuclear chief, according to state media outlet IRNA.

Eslami said the IAEA inspections of sites that had not been subjected to U.S. attacks continued, but inspectors couldn’t access sites that had come under fire until a specific inspection protocol had been established.

RELATED STORY | US expands sanctions on Iran, puts other countries on notice

Meanwhile, even if the new economic measures were to force Iran to make concessions about their nuclear program, the future of the enriched uranium already in the country remains unclear.

Asked whether the U.S. could accept a long-term resolution to the conflict that doesn’t secure that enriched materials, Wright told Scripps News, “our strong desire is to end the Iranian nuclear program through negotiations and through inspections administered by the International Atomic Energy Agency.”

“Our number one objective is they will not possess nuclear weapons,” Wright added. “If we can do it through negotiation and inspections, that is absolutely the desired way. If it needs to be done through military means to destroy their nuclear facilities in the industrial might of Iran, unfortunately, we will do that too.”

“One way or the other, they will not have a nuclear weapon,” Wright concluded.

Trump sends saudi nuclear deal to Congress for review

Separately, the Energy Secretary confirmed that the Trump administration had recently transmitted the text of a proposed civil nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia to Congress, despite concerns from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle about the agreement.

Critics have pointed to the fact the deal reportedly contains pathways for Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium in the future, raising the prospect the nation may develop its own arsenal of nuclear munitions.

“This agreement is– it explicitly says that we’re going to work together, the United States and Saudi Arabia, and evaluate what are the rooms for growth of the Saudi nuclear industry,” Wright said. “They have uranium reserves in Saudi Arabia. Maybe we should be mining uranium in Saudi Arabia. Maybe there’s other commercial roles in the nuclear space for Saudi Arabian-American cooperation.”

“Certainly, there’s no reason in the near term to bring enrichment technology to Saudi Arabia, they don’t even have a nuclear reactor yet,” he continued. “So I would say that’s something many years down the road, and it would only happen if, at that time, Saudi Arabia and the United States government both mutually agreed this makes commercial sense and this fits into our national security framework.”

Wright also defended Trump’s claim that the Saudi agreement would only take effect if the nation were to join the Abraham Accords — a framework by which Middle Eastern nations can normalize relations with Israel — despite announcing the agreement before any such deal was reached.

“That’s President Trump’s decision at the end of the day,” Wright said. “But I think he’s been pretty clear, and he’s been clear for years of his desire to get Saudi Arabia, just a critical ally of ours and partner in the Middle East, to join the Abraham Accords. He wants to see those two things happen together, and I think he sees a window of opportunity to make that happen.”