International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials will travel to Washington next week for consultations with the United States as concerns grow over their inability to account for Iran’s stockpile of near-bomb grade uranium, Bloomberg reported.
Citing diplomats familiar with the matter, the report said the move follows the failure of IAEA safeguards chief Massimo Aparo to secure Iranian approval earlier this month to resume monitoring after Israel and Iran’s 12-day conflict in June.
Inspectors were expelled during the fighting, effectively halting international oversight of Tehran’s nuclear program. A few days after the war ended, Iran’s parliament passed a bill suspending cooperation with the agency, including inspections.
Diplomats told Bloomberg that Iran has continued to deny access to its main nuclear-fuel complex, citing chemical and radiological hazards from US and Israeli strikes. Tehran has suggested limited access may be possible to unaffected facilities, including its Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant on the Persian Gulf.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi said in an interview published Wednesday by state media: “We have not reached the point of cutting off cooperation with the agency, but future cooperation will certainly not resemble the past.”
The IAEA has not verified Iran’s inventory of highly enriched uranium since June 13, when Tehran informed inspectors it was prepared to move 409 kilograms of material enriched up to 60% to an undisclosed location, Bloomberg said.
Iran has repeatedly denied seeking nuclear arms, and both IAEA inspectors and US intelligence agencies have said there is no evidence of a weapons program since the early 2000s.
The consultations in Washington come as European powers warn Tehran that failure to resume negotiations and allow inspections by the end of August could trigger the snapback of UN sanctions.
Iran has dismissed the threat and warned it could withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if sanctions are restored.
According to Bloomberg, the IAEA is compiling a dossier highlighting inspector experience working in hazardous environments, citing precedents from Fukushima and Ukraine. But the agency faces budget strains, with member states questioning whether the $23 million earmarked for Iran monitoring should continue if inspections remain suspended.
The exercises, dubbed Sustainable Power 1404, featured the simultaneous use of Nasir, Qadir, and Ghader anti-ship cruise missiles launched from coastal batteries and warships, including the Genaveh missile boat and the Sabalan destroyer.
“These missiles, with different ranges, successfully hit their designated targets at sea,” the semi-official Tasnim news agency said. Officials described the systems as radar-evading, high-precision and designed to counter both naval and coastal targets.
The drills took place around a month after the Iran-Russia drill under the name Casarex 2025, which took place in Iran's northern waters -- the Caspian Sea.
Marking National Defense Industry Day, Iran’s Defense Ministry said the country had advanced “from the peak of dependence on foreigners to the heights of self-sufficiency and power” in the missile, weapons and space sectors.
It warned that “any miscalculation in the region will be met with a very strong response from Iran’s powerful armed forces.”
The ministry said the 12-day war in June had demonstrated the effectiveness of Iranian weaponry, adding that Tehran’s defense industry will continue to expand without a moment of hesitation.
Army Navy vs Guard Navy
Iran maintains two distinct naval forces under separate command structures: the conventional Islamic Republic of Iran Navy -- a force within the traditional army --and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy.
While both are tasked with defending Iranian interests at sea, their missions, capabilities and areas of operation differ, according to a Defense News analysis.
“The IRGC Navy and the Iranian Navy have two separate command structures. While some of their responsibilities overlap, the primary difference is the methods and strategies of operation,” analyst Sina Azodi told Defense News.
He added that the IRGC Navy emphasizes asymmetric operations, relying on fast boats, missile-equipped vessels and hit-and-run tactics, while the traditional Navy deploys larger platforms such as frigates, corvettes and submarines.
According to Mohamed al-Kenany, head of the military studies unit at the Cairo-based Arab Forum for Analyzing Iranian Policies, another key distinction is geography.
Iran’s navy patrols the Gulf of Oman, the Indian Ocean and the Caspian Sea, while the Revolutionary Guard controls the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, where it has seized Western vessels and shadowed US warships during past tensions.
Al-Kenany added that the IRGC’s use of naval mines and swarms of small craft makes its anti-access strategy in the Persian Gulf highly effective, while the conventional Navy remains constrained by aging 1970s-era frigates and corvettes and sanctions that block modernization.
Since 1979, the United States has imposed sanctions on Iran that restrict access to advanced military technology, forcing Tehran to rely on indigenous development and adaptations of older systems.
Top commanders call for modernization
Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi said Iran’s only guarantee of security was to continually upgrade its systems.
“The only way to shield the country from threats is to enhance deterrence and modernize our ground, naval, aerospace, air defense, cyber and electronic warfare capabilities,” he said in a message to Defense Minister Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh.
Nasirzadeh himself told reporters on Wednesday that Iran had developed a new generation of missiles with greater capabilities than those used in the June conflict.
“The missiles we used in the 12-day war were built several years ago. Today we possess missiles with far better capabilities, and if the Zionist enemy embarks on another adventure, we will certainly use them,” he said.
He added that Israel’s missile-defense systems, including the US-made THAAD, Patriot, Arrow and Iron Dome, had proven ineffective. “In the early days, about 40% of our missiles were intercepted, but by the end of the war, 90% were striking their targets,” he said.
'War is not over'
Earlier in the week, Senior Revolutionary Guards general Yahya Rahim Safavi, now top adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, dismissed the June ceasefire as temporary.
“We are not in a ceasefire, we are in a stage of war. No protocol, regulation, or agreement has been written between us and the US or Israel. I think another war may happen, and after that, there may be no more wars,” he said.
Safavi argued that Iran must continue to expand its diplomatic, cyber, missile and drone capabilities. “In the system of nature, the weak are trampled. Therefore, Iran must also become strong,” he said.
Israel vows readiness
Israel’s military chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said earlier this month the June campaign had been a preemptive strike to eliminate an “emerging existential threat” from Iran.
“If necessary, we will know how to act again with precision, intensity and lethality,” he said.
Israel launched surprise strikes on June 13 that killed senior Iranian commanders and nuclear scientists and damaged nuclear and air defense sites. Iran says 1,062 people were killed, including 786 military personnel and 276 civilians.
Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks that killed 31 civilians and one off-duty soldier in Israel. The conflict ended with a US-brokered ceasefire on June 24.
Both Tehran and Tel Aviv claimed victory in June, but the rhetoric since then has underscored the fragile truce and the risk of a renewed confrontation in the region.
