UN Nuclear Watchdog Reports Iran To Security Council: Cameras Disabled, Inspectors Harassed And 83.7% Enrichment Uncovered
The United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is asking the UN Security Council to hold Iran accountable for failing to stick to safeguards meant to prevent development of nuclear weapons.
CNN reports that the move is the latest in a more than decade-long effort to monitor Iran. The report reviewed by CNN shows Iran has moved from compliance to sabotaging inspections, including disabling monitoring cameras and subjecting inspectors to “excessively invasive physical searches.”
The news platform recalled that the 2015 nuclear deal, known as JCPOA, between Iran and world powers had created the world’s most invasive inspection regime. CNN noted that Iran complied from January 2016 until mid-2019, even after President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the deal in May 2018.
According to CNN, compliance began to unravel from July 2019 when Iran exceeded its low enriched uranium cap, resumed enrichment with advanced centrifuges, and in 2020 blocked inspectors from accessing two suspected sites. In December 2020, Iran’s parliament slashed cooperation and ordered enrichment to 60%, close to weapons-grade.
In 2021, Iran disabled cameras at its Karaj centrifuge workshop, destroyed one, and later in June 2022 demanded removal of all JCPOA monitoring equipment. In January 2023, inspectors discovered undeclared centrifuges at Fordow enriching to 83.7% purity, near weapons grade. Iran later expelled the inspectors who found it.
The IAEA declared Iran non-compliant in June 2025. Israel launched strikes a day after, and the US bombed three nuclear sites — Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan — less than two weeks later. On Wednesday this week, 23 governors on the IAEA board voted to report Tehran to the Security Council, with Russia, China and Niger voting against.
Since February 2026 when the US and Israel launched an air campaign against Iran, the IAEA has not been able to visit any Iranian nuclear facility except the Bushehr power plant, breaking its “continuity of knowledge” about Iran’s uranium stock and centrifuges.
