TEHRAN: Iran said on Wednesday that the return of UN nuclear inspectors did not represent a full resumption of cooperation, which was suspended in the aftermath of June attacks by Israel and the United States.

A team of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has returned to Iran, its director general Rafael Grossi said, the first to enter the country since Tehran formally suspended cooperation with the agency last month.

“No final text has yet been approved on the new cooperation framework with the IAEA and views are being exchanged,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.

The agency’s inspectors left Iran after Israel launched its unprecedented attack on June 13, striking nuclear and military facilities as well as residential areas and killing more than 1,000 people.

Washington later joined in with strikes on nuclear facilities at Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz.

Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks that killed dozens in Israel. A ceasefire between Iran and Israel has been in place since June 24.

Iran subsequently suspended its cooperation with the IAEA, citing the agency’s failure to condemn the Israeli and US attacks.

Under the law suspending cooperation, inspectors may access Iranian nuclear sites only with the approval of the country’s top security body, the Supreme National Security Council.

Tehran has said repeatedly that future cooperation with the agency will take “a new form”.

The spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, Behrouz Kamalvandi, said the IAEA inspectors would oversee the replacement of fuel at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in south-western Iran.

In an interview with Fox News, Grossi said the agency and Iran were still discussing what kind of “practical modalities can be implemented in order to facilitate the restart of our work there”.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2025