Iran can access near weapons-grade uranium stockpile, UN watchdog says

Investing.com -- Iran could retrieve its stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium from sites bombed by the US, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"It is accessible if there's a wish to go there," IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said Wednesday in an interview on Bloomberg TV.

IAEA inspectors have not visited the sites where the material is located in 10 months. Grossi said satellite images suggest the majority of material remains buried at the location it was last seen near the Iranian city of Isfahan.

Washington and Tehran are struggling to resume negotiations to end the conflict, which continues to restrict energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz. A fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas transited through the waterway before the war began in February. Grossi said he is in touch with White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

"It's on and off but there is a conversation," Grossi said, adding his inspectors will remain critical to any outcome. "An agreement without verification is an illusion."

Iran has reportedly proposed an interim deal to reopen Hormuz in exchange for Washington ending its blockade of Iranian ports, while postponing more complex negotiations over the country's nuclear program.

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