Iran nuclear program relatively unchanged since start of war: IAEA

On Thursday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told U.N. member states that it has not reported any major changes to its assessment of Iran’s nuclear program in its first report on the matter since the U.S.-Israeli conflict in Iran began just a little more than three months ago.

Reuters reviewed the confidential report before the IAEA’s 35-nation board of governors meets next week. The report showed few changes from the previous reports written before the start of the war. The report reiterated its calls to Iranian officials to provide an update on the state of its enriched uranium stockpiles.

“The [IAEA] Director General has emphasized to Iran that it is indispensable ‌and urgent ⁠to implement effectively the NPT [Non-Proliferation Treaty] Safeguards Agreement … and that its implementation cannot be suspended by Iran under any circumstances,” the report reads, according to Reuters.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog has been unable to return to Iran’s nuclear sites since Israel and the U.S. first bombed the locations last June, and Iran has not provided an update on the fate of its stockpiles.

“The Agency’s loss of continuity of knowledge over all previously declared nuclear material at affected facilities in Iran needs to be addressed with the utmost urgency,” the report notes, referring to sites affected by U.S.-Israeli bombing campaigns.

Iran’s nuclear program has been one of the primary drivers of the conflict, with the Trump administration asserting that Iran posed an “imminent nuclear threat.” It has also been one of the major sticking points with the latest round of negotiations to end the conflict.

Both sides have reached a tentative agreement to extend a fragile ceasefire in the three-month conflict by 60 days, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and set up the framework for expanded talks on the state of Iran’s nuclear program and the fate of its stockpile.

This emerging memorandum of understanding, however, awaits approval from President Trump and Iran’s leaders.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave an optimistic outlook on the talks between the U.S. and Iran while testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a House Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday, The Associated Press reported.

“They have agreed to negotiate aspects of their nuclear program that just a month ago, just a year ago, they were refusing to even mention,” Rubio told senators, later adding that instability within Iran’s leadership have made the talks difficult.

Vice President Vance said last Thursday that negotiators have been “going back and forth” on some of the deal’s terms, including Iran’s nuclear capacity.