Iran has not yet provided reports or set inspection dates for damaged nuclear sites under its Cairo access agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency, Wall Street Journal correspondent reported on Thursday.
“While Iran has not binned or ended discussions with the IAEA on implementing the Cairo access deal, I understand it still hasn’t issued reports or given dates for issuing reports on damaged sites and stockpile. Nor of course permitted access to damaged sites,” Laurence Norman wrote on X. He said IAEA chief Rafael Grossi “is for now being given more space” but continues to press Tehran to advance on these steps.
The comments come as Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization chief Mohammad Eslami said on Wednesday that “no IAEA inspector is currently in the country.” Eslami said only two visits had been allowed since the June airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities — to Bushehr and Tehran reactors — both cleared by the Supreme National Security Council.
The Cairo deal, reached in September between Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Grossi, was meant to restore limited cooperation after the strikes. It outlined “practical modalities” for monitoring declared nuclear sites, but Iranian officials warned the accord could collapse if UN sanctions were reinstated. Western governments triggered the snapback of those sanctions in late September, citing Iran’s failure to meet its obligations.
Eslami said Iran is not considering leaving the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but faulted the IAEA for failing to condemn the US and Israeli attacks. “The agency should have condemned the attack on Iran’s nuclear sites, but it did not,” he said, adding that Iran’s cooperation is now governed by a new parliamentary law limiting access.
Norman said the IAEA has so far avoided demanding immediate access to a specific site to prevent a direct refusal by Tehran, “risking a crisis.” He added that Iran “could play its old game of offering something ahead of [the] November IAEA board” but warned that without progress, “we could be running into another significant moment in November.”
