Tag Archives: IAEA

IAEA Chief Urges Countries to Recommit to Nuclear Non-Proliferation

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He stressed that their support for the non-proliferation regime, the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), and the IAEA, is crucial.

“I urge Member States to recommit to a system that has been one of the most important foundations for international peace, even during the tensest decades of our generation,” he said.

He noted that the conference comes at a time when “acts of terrorism, multiple military conflicts, and the erosion of nuclear norms are all happening against a growing gap between poverty and prosperity.”

Mr. Grossi went on to speak about the ways in which the IAEA is working to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and is putting nuclear science to good use, including for cancer treatment, food security, plastic pollution monitoring, disease detection, and artificial intelligence.

Nuclear safety around the world

Earlier this year, Syria agreed to cooperate with the IAEA, and just last week, the agency reached an agreement with Iran to resume the implementation of nuclear safeguards – technical measures used by the IAEA to ensure that if countries make advancements in nuclear technology, they do so for peaceful purposes.

“When the IAEA confirms the peaceful use of a State’s nuclear material, confidence over nuclear activities is established,” said Mr. Grossi.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, where nuclear power plants are at risk from conflict, the IAEA has sent over 200 missions and is “present on the ground at all the sites.”

But more challenges remain. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) continues its nuclear weapons programme, while even countries abiding by the NPT, the landmark international agreement meant to abolish nuclear weapons, are debating adding them.

“Think for a minute about a world where instead of a few, we would have 20 or 25 countries armed with nuclear weapons,” he warned.

Peaceful uses of nuclear science

Three years ago, the IAEA launched its flagship programme, Rays of Hope, becoming a “catalyst for real, substantial progress in cancer care.” Through the initiative, concrete actions have been taken in 40 countries: hospitals have been built, radiotherapy machines procured, and physicists trained.

Additionally, the IAEA’s joint programme with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Atoms4Food, is helping boost food security and reduce the environmental strain arising from agriculture.

“In a world of abundance, 700 million people should not have to go to bed hungry every night,” he said.

Mr. Grossi highlighted more ways in which the agency is benefiting the people and the planet, including through its initiative supporting many countries in addressing plastic pollution and waste, and another on improving global preparedness for diseases.

An optimistic outlook

With powerful tools like artificial intelligence and machine learning, “the future is too exciting to miss.”

Nuclear energy can power artificial intelligence infrastructure, while artificial intelligence can improve nuclear technology. To further explore this mutually beneficial relationship, the IAEA will organise the first ever symposium dedicated to the topic in December this year.

Fusion energy, which has been progressing thanks to public and private capital, is another technological development soon expected to take off.

“Every challenge is an opportunity,” concluded Mr. Grossi. “Peace is not simply the absence of conflict. It is dynamic, hopeful striving that I see in what we do all around the world.”

The 69th IAEA General Conference will take place from 15-19 September in Vienna, Austria, where over 3,000 participants are registered to attend.

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Iran-Israel war: IAEA chief stresses need for strong new nuclear deal

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“I welcome announcements on Iran situation. Resuming cooperation with [the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)] is key to a successful agreement,” said Rafael Grossi, Director General of the (IAEA).

In a short online post on X, Mr. Grossi added that he had offered to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on working together, “stressing this step can lead to a diplomatic solution to the long-standing controversy” over Iran’s nuclear programme.

Tehran prison concern

Meanwhile, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, insisted that a notorious Tehran prison known for holding dissidents should not be a target, a day after a reported Israeli strike on the complex.

OHCHR spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told media in Geneva that Evin prison is not a military objective, according to the laws of war.

“Targeting it constitutes a grave breach of international humanitarian law”, he said.

OHCHR does not have specific details about what the alleged attack, Mr. Al- Kheetan said, but there have reportedly been fires inside the prison and a number of injuries.

Casualty count

An updated casualty count from the Iranian authorities on Tuesday indicated that 610 people have been killed including 49 women and 13 children since 13 June. That number includes two pregnant women and one infant along with 4,746 injured, including 185 women and 65 minors.

Seven hospitals, four health units and six emergency bases and nine ambulances have been damaged, the Iranian health authorities said.

Some 28 Israeli citizens have reportedly been killed by Iranian missile strikes to date.

Civilians must be protected

Political prisoners including journalists are held at Evin prison, but whether they are detained “arbitrarily” or in connection with “crimes they’ve actually committed”, the inmates must be protected, Mr Al-Kheetan insisted.

According to media reports on Tuesday, Iran said that it transferred all the inmates out of the prison after it was hit by an Israeli strike, moving them to other prisons around the capital in order to repair damage.

A fragile ceasefire proposed by the United States seemed to take hold briefly on Tuesday morning, before reports of further Iranian missile strikes on Israel, disputed by Tehran.

The conflict began with Israeli air attacks on 13 June and escalated over the weekend with US forces striking Iranian nuclear facilities. Hundreds of civilians have reportedly been killed in the Israeli airstrikes, while Iran’s retaliatory strikes killed close to 30 people in Israel.

Asked about signs of a crackdown on dissent by the Iranian authorities in the context of the Israeli and US military campaign against the country, the OHCHR spokesperson stressed that it was “difficult to verify information” coming from Iran, given the lack of access.

He confirmed seeing reports about Iranians being “arrested for cyber activities and publishing content related to the Israeli attacks on Iran, according to NGOs”.

Mr. Al-Kheetan also spoke of reports that nine men have been executed in Iran since Israel attacked the country on 13 June.

He called on the Iranian authorities to “completely respect the rights to freedom of expression and information, at all times”, insisting that journalists “must be able to do their work without any obstacles”.

Iranian citizens reportedly arrested and accused of espionage or collaboration with Israel “must have their full rights in terms of legal procedures and a fair trial”, he said.

“If these arrests are arbitrary, those persons must be freed immediately and unconditionally,” he concluded.

Human Rights Council concerns

On Monday, independent human rights experts reiterated their concerns about Iran’s “use of broadly defined national security offences, some of which are punishable by death”, in the context of recent reported executions on espionage charges.

Last week, the UN deputy human rights chief, Nada Al-Nashif, told the Human Rights Council that at least 975 people were executed in Iran last year – the highest number of reported executions since 2015.

She also briefed the Council on the use of torture in Iranian prisons and the ongoing targeting of minorities, journalists and human rights defenders.

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Iran-Israel crisis: IAEA chief urges access to damaged nuclear sites

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Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was addressing the agency’s Board of Governors, amid fresh reports of new Israeli missile strikes on Iranian military sites in Tehran and elsewhere earlier on Monday. Iranian weapons fire has also been reported across Israel. 

Mr. Grossi – who also addressed an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Sunday – insisted that the agency’s weapons inspectors should return to Iran’s nuclear sites and account for their stockpiles.

There is particular concern about 400 kilogrammes of uranium enriched to 60 per cent by Iran.

Under the terms of a 2015 nuclear deal with the international community, Iran is permitted to enrich the naturally occurring radioactive material to less than four per cent.

“Craters are now visible at the Fordow site, Iran’s main location for enriching uranium at 60 per cent, indicating the use of ground-penetrating munitions; this is consistent with statements from the United States,” he told the IAEA Board of Governors. “At this time, no one including the IAEA, is in a position to have fully assessed the underground damage at Fordow.”

Mr. Grossi said that taking into account the highly explosive payload used in the US attacks, “very significant damage is expected to have occurred” to the highly sensitive centrifuge machinery used to enrich uranium at Fordow.

Several sites hit

Fordow is one of several nuclear-related sites across Iran that are known to have been damaged in the strikes by the United States, including those in Esfahan, Arak and Tehran.

In comments to the UN Security Council in New York on Sunday, the IAEA chief said that although radiation levels remained normal outside these nuclear facilities, deep concerns remained about Iran’s operational nuclear plant at Bushehr.

Any strike on Bushehr could trigger a massive radiation release across the region –  “the risk is real”, Mr. Grossi said.

Eleven days after Israel launched air and missile strikes at Iranian military and nuclear sites, some 430 people are believed to have been killed in Iran, most of them civilians.

According to Israeli reports, 25 people have been killed and more than 1,300 injured by Iranian missile strikes.

Monitoring Iran and promoting peaceful nuclear use – IAEA role explained

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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) dates back to 1957 and was set up in response to global fears following the first use of nuclear and atomic weapons and alarm over the advent and spread of nuclear technology. An autonomous part of the United Nations system, it works on issues as varied as food safety, cancer control and sustainable development – and also on promoting peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

Another principal responsibility, perhaps less well understood, is the  agency’s framework of nuclear ‘safeguards’ agreements. These agreements are voluntarily entered into by countries and are key to preventing the spread of nuclear weapons by independently verifying whether countries are meeting their non-proliferation commitments. As of 2024, some 182 countries have safeguards  agreements with the IAEA.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi delivers remarks on the military action launched by Israel which includes attacks on nuclear facilities in Iran.

In a June 9 address to the agency’s board, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi laid out troubling findings, raising fresh concerns about Iran’s compliance with global nuclear agreements.

“Iran has repeatedly either not answered” IAEA requests “or not provided technically credible answers,” Mr. Grossi told the 35-nation board on Monday. Additionally, he said, Iran has sought to “sanitise the locations,” which the agency has now concluded were part of a “structured” nuclear programme in the early 2000s.

“Unless and until Iran assists the agency in resolving the outstanding safeguards issues, the Agency will not be in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful,” he said.

Mr. Grossi expressed alarm at the rapid accumulation of over 400 kilogrammes of highly enriched uranium, which has serious implications (highly enriched uranium is one of the necessary components for the creation of a nuclear bomb).

The statement to the board underlined the significant role the IAEA plays in Iran, which can be broken down into four main areas.

1. Monitoring

The agency uses safeguard agreements under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a key international accord designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. The vast majority of safeguards agreements are those that have been concluded by the IAEA with non-nuclear-weapon States. However, safeguards are implemented in three States that are not party to the NPT – India, Pakistan and Israel – on the basis of item-specific agreements they have concluded with the IAEA.

As a non-nuclear armed signatory to the treaty, Iran is banned from acquiring nuclear weapons and is required to allow the IAEA to inspect and verify all nuclear materials and activities, including at short notice, if asked.

The agency regularly inspects Iran’s nuclear facilities, including sites like Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan. The aim is to ensure that nuclear materials are only used for peaceful means and are not diverted for weapons use.

On 9 June, Mr. Grossi noted that man-made uranium particles had been found at three more, undeclared sites (Varamin, Marivan and Turquzabad). Iran, he said, had failed to provide “technically credible explanations” for the presence of the particles, despite years of consultations.

Rafael Grossi (on screen), Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), briefs the UN Security Council meeting on Iran.

2. Reporting

The agency regularly reports to its Board of Governors on the nuclear activities of Iran (and other countries), using methods such as inspections, monitoring equipment, environmental sampling, and satellite imagery to gather data and prepare technical reports. In the case of countries under special scrutiny – such as Iran – these reports are typically issued every quarter.

If Iran – or any non-nuclear weapon country party to the NPT – fails to comply with the IAEA’s requirements (for example, by limiting access or not explaining the presence of uranium particles), the agency can report Iran to the UN Security Council, which may lead to diplomatic pressure, sanctions or calls for further negotiations.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi (2nd left) visiting the Natanz and Fordow nuclear facilities.

3. Diplomatic engagement

The IAEA frequently calls for diplomatic solutions and emphasises the importance of dialogue to resolve concerns about Iran’s nuclear intentions. Director General Grossi has engaged directly with Iranian authorities and international stakeholders to maintain communication and transparency.

Addressing the Security Council on June 13, Mr. Grossi said that his agency was in constant contact with the Iranian Nuclear Regulatory Authority to assess the status of affected facilities and determine broader impacts on nuclear safety and security.

4. Safety and security oversight

This is a critical part of the IAEA’s broader mission to prevent nuclear accidents, ensure that nuclear energy is used for peaceful purposes, and protect people and the environment.

The IAEA works with the Iranian authorities to ensure that nuclear facilities like Natanz, Fordow, and Esfahan operate safely, by assessing the design and operation of the facilities, monitoring radiation protection measures, and evaluating emergency preparedness.

After the June 2025 Israeli strikes, the IAEA confirmed that Natanz had been impacted but reported no elevated radiation levels. However, it emphasised that any military attack on nuclear facilities is a violation of international law and poses serious risks to safety and the environment.