General view of the Iranian consulate where Iran is holding nuclear negotiations with the E3 group — France, Great Britain and Germany — in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 25, 2025. (Credit: Dilara Senkaya/Reuters)
The return of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to Iran does not mark a full resumption of cooperation on Tehran's nuclear program, which was suspended in July, Iran's foreign minister said Wednesday.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi announced that a team from the agency was back in Iran, despite Tehran's suspension of its cooperation with the United Nations body, following the 12-day war sparked on June 13 by an Israeli attack on Iranian soil.
Iran blames the IAEA for failing to condemn the Israeli, then American, strikes that targeted its nuclear facilities during this war.
Tehran also believes the IAEA shares some responsibility for triggering the surprise Israeli attack, which came the day after a critical resolution on Iran's nuclear program was passed at the agency's headquarters.
Since July, a law passed by Iran's parliament technically bans any cooperation with the IAEA.
"No final text has yet been approved regarding the new framework for cooperation with the IAEA, and exchanges of views are ongoing," Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi clarified Wednesday, as quoted by state television.
'Practical arrangements'
IAEA inspectors are back in Iran and began their work Wednesday at the Bushehr site, Iran's main nuclear power plant, its chief, Rafael Grossi, told journalists in Washington.
This decision was made "to monitor the replacement of fuel at the Bushehr plant," Araghchi stressed.
The minister, who is Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, did not mention the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan sites, which were hit by U.S. strikes in June.
Grossi said discussions were underway about inspecting those affected sites.
Western countries, led by the United States and Israel — sworn enemy of the Islamic Republic — have long suspected Iran of seeking to develop a nuclear bomb.
Tehran vigorously denies having military ambitions but insists on its right to nuclear capabilities for civilian needs.
Threat of sanctions
The return of IAEA inspectors comes as Iran has resumed negotiations with Paris, Berlin and London, which are threatening to reinstate sanctions against Tehran.
Iran said Tuesday it was "negotiating with all its strength" to prevent Europeans from triggering the mechanism to restore sanctions provided for in the 2015 international nuclear agreement with Iran.
The European trio, alongside China, Russia, and the United States, had reached an agreement with Iran providing for significant restrictions on its nuclear program in exchange for a gradual lifting of U.N. sanctions.
Washington decided to withdraw in 2018 under Donald Trump's first presidency and reinstated its own sanctions. Since then, Tehran has abandoned some of its commitments, including those on uranium enrichment.
Paris, London and Berlin are threatening to activate a clause in the 2015 agreement — which expires Oct. 18 — to reimpose international sanctions if no negotiated solution is reached by the end of August. Iran disputes their legitimacy to do so.
Tehran on Tuesday called on Europeans and the U.N. Security Council to make the "right choice" after new talks Tuesday in Geneva.
Moscow, for its part, proposed Tuesday to the Security Council to postpone, by six months, "until April 18, 2026," the deadline for activating the sanctions snapback mechanism, according to a draft resolution seen by AFP.
According to the IAEA, Iran is the only non-nuclear-armed country enriching uranium at a high level (60 percent), far above the 3.67 percent limit set by the 2015 agreement.
To make a bomb, enrichment must be pushed to 90 percent, according to the IAEA.
