Iran still possesses enough highly enriched uranium and the technical capability to build nuclear weapons, despite the Israeli and US strikes that damaged its enrichment sites, Rafael Mariano Grossi, the head of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, said on Thursday.
Although the June attacks on Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordo “severely damaged” Iran’s nuclear program, the country retains the knowledge and material “to manufacture a few nuclear weapons,” Grossi told FRANCE 24.
“To reconstruct that industrial technological base, Iran would need time,” Grossi said, adding that the strikes marked a sharp shift “from diplomacy to the use of force” and urging a return to negotiations. “Diplomacy is the only path toward a durable solution,” he said.
Politicized report and call for renewed talks
Grossi dismissed remarks that an IAEA safeguards report provided justification for the strikes, saying it had been politicized and contained nothing new. He also rejected suggestions that artificial intelligence influenced the agency’s conclusions, emphasizing that “our findings are made by human inspectors, not machines.”
The IAEA’s Board of Governors found Iran in non-compliance with its nuclear obligations on June 12 after the agency said Tehran had failed to explain the presence of undeclared nuclear material at multiple sites. Inspectors last verified more than 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium in Iran shortly before the June conflict began.
In late September, 70 members of Iranian parliament in a letter to the heads of the branches of government and the Supreme National Security Council requested that, by changing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s previous fatwa and in order to create deterrence, the Islamic Republic undertake the manufacture and possession of a nuclear bomb.
In recent months, and especially after the 12-day war with Israel, several officials of the Islamic Republic have criticized Grossi’s reports. Some called him a “Mossad agent,” and even Kayhan -- a newspaper overseen by Khamenei’s representative -- demanded his execution on charges of spying for Israel.
Nabavian, deputy head of parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told an academic forum in Qom on Thursday that “the real goal of the Americans is to disarm Iran technologically and scientifically.”
He added Washington sought to trigger snapback sanctions to collapse Iran’s economy and drive the national currency to 1,500,000 rials to the dollar but said “the plan failed due to the vigilance of the country’s security and economic authorities.”
Today, the exchange rate is about 1,080,000 rials per dollar.
Nabavian said the United States uses calls for negotiations as a tool to pressure Iran and that “none of America’s promises have ever been sincere.”
He described Washington and Israel as “pursuing domination in the region” and said Iran’s nuclear program remains peaceful.
Nabavian added that future conflicts in the region would differ from the recent 12-day war, with adversaries likely to use economic and internal destabilization efforts before any direct confrontation.
In a meeting with Saudi Ambassador Abdullah bin Saud al-Anzi this week, Iran’s Hajj chief Alireza Rashidian said that last year Iran’s allocation was approximately 85,000 pilgrims.
He requested an increase in the quota for the next Hajj season in May 2026 to align more closely with Iran’s larger population of around 91 million.
He also raised operational issues including use of Ta’if airport and increased flight capacity via Saudi airlines.
Saudi Arabia allocates Hajj slots based on a formula set up in 1987, typically around one pilgrim per thousand Muslims in a country. For example, Indonesia has a quota of 221,000 pilgrims for 2025, Pakistan 180,000, India 175,000, and Iran now approximately 87,500.
On Thursday, the Supreme Leader’s representative for Hajj affairs, Abdolfattah Navvab, told Tasnim News that Iran hopes its Hajj quota will increase in proportion to the country’s growing population.
“Given the rise in Iran’s population, we hope the national quota will also increase so we can serve a larger number of pilgrims eager to visit Mecca,” he said.
Navvab added that last year’s quota was set at 85,000 pilgrims based on a population of 85 million, with an additional two percent allocated for staff and organizers.
He added that about 200,000 Iranians performed the Umrah pilgrimage last year -- a non-mandatory Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca that can be undertaken at any time of the year -- and that, while Iran faces no specific restrictions for Umrah, limited flight capacity remains the main challenge.
“Fortunately, Saudi airline Flynas resumed flights from Shiraz yesterday, and services from Khuzestan province will begin soon to allow more pilgrims to travel,” he said.