Iran says no access to bombed nuclear sites without IAEA deal

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one. Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary. The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. Updated - June 23, 2026 05:35 pm IST - Tehran Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. File | Photo Credit: AP Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog would not be given access to Iranian nuclear sites attacked during its recent war with Israel without a concrete deal being agreed. Iran says UN watchdog will not be allowed to inspect bombed nuclear sites "The facilities that were attacked have their own story, and until a decision is made and a conclusion is reached between us, the IAEA and others, cooperation is not possible," he said in an interview posted to his Telegram channel on Thursday (November 20, 2025), without elaborating on what such an agreement would entail. The interview with the Khabar Online news agency was conducted before the International Atomic Energy Agency adopted a resolution on Thursday (November 20, 2025) demanding access to the sites. In mid-June, Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran, triggering a 12-day war that the United States briefly joined with strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities. In the aftermath, Tehran suspended its cooperation with the IAEA and restricted the watchdog's inspectors from accessing the bombed sites, accusing it of bias and failing to condemn the strikes. "The fact that they came and attacked and left... and now the agency comes to prepare a report for them on where [was attacked] and what happened and how much damage was done is not possible, it is clearly not wise," he added. In September, Iran and the IAEA agreed on a new cooperation framework, but weeks later Tehran deemed it invalid after Britain, France and Germany triggered the return of U.N. sanctions that had been lifted under a now-defunct 2015 nuclear deal. The war derailed high-level nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington that had begun in April, during which the two sides were at odds over Iran's right to enrich uranium, which Tehran defends as "undeniable". Since the war, Iran has repeatedly said it is open to restarting talks, but only if they take place on "equal footing". During the interview, Mr. Araghchi said the U.S. demands remain "detrimental to our national interests", ruling out any talks on its missile programme or other "defense capabilities". "Negotiating about missiles, for example, to reduce them, to reduce their range, to reduce their number, there is no greater betrayal than this," he said. He added talks with European governments were "no longer useful" after they triggered the snapback sanctions. Published - November 20, 2025 09:48 pm IST Israel / nuclear weapons / nuclear power Copyright© 2026, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

Iran says no access to bombed nuclear sites without IAEA deal

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Iran says no access to bombed nuclear sites without IAEA deal

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