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IAEA warns Israel-Iran conflict threatens nuclear facilities, diplomacy
Rafael Grossi. head of UN’s nuclear watchdog, warns Israeli conflict with Iran ‘threatens lives’ and risks nuclear fallout.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, has warned that escalating hostilities between Israel and Iran, now in a fourth day, pose grave dangers to diplomacy and nuclear safety and has urged all parties to exercise maximum restraint.
Speaking at an emergency session of the United Nations nuclear watchdog’s Board of Governors on Monday in Vienna, Director General Grossi stressed that the region is at a critical juncture.
“Military escalation threatens lives, increases the chance of a radiological release with serious consequences for people and the environment, and delays indispensable work towards a diplomatic solution for the long-term assurance that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon,” Grossi said.
The IAEA chief’s remarks came amid growing concern that the conflict could permanently damage efforts to revive nuclear talks with Tehran, already strained by years of mistrust and United States President Donald Trump’s torpedoing of the 2015 nuclear accord brokered by world powers with Iran.
Nuclear sites damaged
Grossi also delivered a technical update on the status of Iranian nuclear facilities after Israeli bombardments.
Natanz, Iran’s main uranium enrichment plant, was among the sites hit on Friday. While its underground section was spared a direct strike, Grossi warned that vital equipment may have been damaged due to a power outage triggered by the attack.
He noted that radiation levels outside the facility remained normal and, critically, there was no evidence of contamination spreading beyond the site.
“The level of radioactivity outside the Natanz site has remained unchanged and at normal levels, indicating no external radiological impact to the population or the environment from this event,” he said.
In addition to Natanz, four nuclear installations in Isfahan province were also damaged. However, the Fordow enrichment site, the Bushehr nuclear power plant and a reactor still under construction appeared unaffected.
IAEA personnel remain on the ground in Iran and are ready to resume full monitoring once the security situation allows, Grossi said.
Meanwhile, Iran’s government is facing pressure at home to take a harder line. A bill reportedly being prepared in parliament could pave the way for Iran to exit the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, a move that would deal a severe blow to global nonproliferation efforts.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the draft legislation was still in its early stages and would require coordination with lawmakers. He reiterated Tehran’s longstanding official opposition to developing nuclear weapons.
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One of the leading American institutes devoted to research on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program sounded an alarm this week over the regime’s uninspected underground site in the Zagros Mountains.
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have not been allowed to visit the secret site, known as Pickaxe Mountain.
The highly fortified facility is casting serious doubt on Iran’s willingness to abide by the terms of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) reached with the Trump administration. The United States, together with Israel, launched Operation Epic Fury Feb. 28, 2026, targeting Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities.
Experts from the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) argue that halting work at Pickaxe Mountain and allowing IAEA inspectors access would be a key good-faith measure to test whether Iran is prepared to abandon its pattern of deception.
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A satellite image shows an overview of the Pickaxe Mountain tunnel complex in Natanz. (Vantor/Handout via Reuters)
Spencer Faragasso, a senior fellow with the group who covers Iran, North Korea, illicit trade, and nuclear issues, wrote on X: “Important update by us at @TheGoodISIS. The ongoing work at Pickaxe Mountain is deeply concerning. This work has continued steadily since at least 2020. In my view, this is a hedge by Iran in case negotiations fail — they will then have a nuclear facility in a late stage of construction. We assessed that Pickaxe is likely large enough to hold an enrichment plant.”
Iran has used facilities at Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan to enrich uranium, the key material for a nuclear weapons program.
Faragasso added, “If Iran is serious about negotiating, it should halt construction at Pickaxe Mountain as a token of good faith. But what can be expected from a regime as brutal and conniving as Iran’s?”
The institute posted a detailed analysis of new satellite imagery from late June 2026 showing continued activity at Pickaxe Mountain.
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Vice President JD Vance prior to a meeting between the United States, Iran, Pakistan and Qatar at the Bürgenstock luxury hotel complex overlooking Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, June 21, 2026. (Fabrice Coffrini/Keystone via AP)
The institute wrote that “at Pickaxe Mountain, vehicle activity can be seen on the roads leading to the open set of Western tunnel portals, indicating that construction inside the tunnel complex, as well as hardening of the tunnel entrance, are ongoing. The MOU signed between the United States and Iran requires that Iran maintain the status quo, which should prohibit construction at any nuclear-related facility, including Pickaxe Mountain.”
In late June, the IAEA declined to answer a detailed Fox News Digital query on whether it would seek access to the Pickaxe Mountain facility. According to the satellite imagery obtained by the institute, “at Natanz, little activity can be seen. The access points to the below-ground enrichment halls have not been repaired.
“The personnel entrances remain destroyed, and vehicle entrances remain severely damaged. A single vehicle can be seen on the road outside of the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP), which was destroyed in June 2025 but was later covered by Iran.”
As U.S.-Iran talks opened Sunday in Switzerland, and a dispute over who controls and monitors billions of dollars in potentially unfrozen Iranian assets emerged. (Fabrice Coffrini/Pool via Reuters)
The institute also reported, “As of June 29, 2026, there is no observed activity at Esfahan. The tunnel portals remain backfilled with dirt.” ISIS tracked developments at the Fordow site, buried inside a mountain north of the holy Islamic city of Qom.
“At Fordow, as earlier reported by the Institute, between May 10 and May 18, Iran added passive defensive measures in the form of earthen/rocky mounds and other objects on the roads leading to the tunnel entrances. The alternating placements of the piles/objects are very precise, which creates a series of chicanes, indicating they are not intended as obstructions but rather to prevent rapid ingress and egress by any vehicle toward the tunnels.”
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The institute added, “The June 21 Vantor image shows that the objects along the road remain there. The tunnel portals also remain backfilled with dirt” at Fordow.
Fox News Digital sent questions to the State Department and the Iranian Mission to the United Nations.
Published On 6 Jul 2026
The funeral procession for late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has begun in Tehran as authorities prepare for crowds that could rival those that turned out for his predecessor nearly four decades ago.
After lying in state for two days at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla religious complex, the body of Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the United States-Israel war on Iran, began its journey on Monday through the capital, accompanied by large crowds of mourners, state broadcaster IRIB reported.
Authorities are hoping to avoid a repeat of the chaos that marred the 1989 funeral of Khamenei’s predecessor, Ruhollah Khomeini, which drew an estimated 10 million people, according to the state news agency IRNA.
Crowd surges during Khomeini’s funeral killed more than 10 people and injured over 10,000.
Thousands filled the Grand Mosalla on Sunday to pay their respects to Khamenei and his four family members who were killed with him on February 28 in air strikes on his office in Tehran.
Monday’s procession will be followed by similar events in the clerical hub of Qom on Tuesday and in Iraq’s holy cities of Najaf and Karbala on Wednesday, culminating in Khamenei’s burial in his hometown of Mashhad in northeastern Iran on Thursday.
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