Iran reiterated that it will not give UN inspectors access to its nuclear facilities following a UN Security Council meeting on Friday, facing down calls from Western nations to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The meeting was called by Bahrain and European countries, and came as fresh strikes between the US and Iran threatened to unravel the interim deal to end the war .
In a UN report presented at the briefing, the IAEA reported a "significant deterioration" in its awareness of Iran's nuclear facilities following the US-Israeli attack on Iran.
Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei ruled out granting IAEA access to its facilities and called the report "meaningless and without any legal basis".
Iran, backed by Russia and China, argues that the UN Security Council no longer has legal authority to discuss its nuclear programme because the resolution underpinning the 2015 nuclear deal has expired.
Resolution 2231, which endorsed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reached its scheduled end on 18 October 2025 unless UN sanctions were "snapped back" in line with provisions.
Western powers say they completed the snapback process in late September 2025, thereby reimposing UN sanctions that had been lifted under the JCPOA. Tehran, however, deems these measures "null and void", insists 2231 is now "legally non-existent", and has rejected subsequent Council meetings on its nuclear file as an abuse of authority.
In the report, the IAEA said it had "lost continuity of knowledge across all of Iran’s declared nuclear facilities" following last year's 12-day war and the recent conflict launched by Israel and the United States on 28 February.
The memorandum of understanding signed by Iran and the US in June opened the door to fresh negotiations over the future of Tehran's nuclear programme. Successive rounds of talks have so far failed to result in a permanent deal, with the two sides remaining far apart on key issues such as enrichment and the fate of Iran's stockpile of uranium.
But the ongoing standoff over the Strait of Hormuz has threatened to collapse the interim deal, with the US launching intense airstrikes on 8 and 9 July, and Iran responding with attacks on its Gulf neighbours.
Iranian officials have since threatened to walk away from the ceasefire deal if the US does not comply with its terms.
IAEA head Rafael Grossi said recently that "very strong" verification would need to be included in any deal.