President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that the U.S. will work with Iran to “dig up and remove” its enriched uranium that was buried under joint U.S.-Israeli strikes last summer.

The U.S. President said on social media that “There will be no enrichment of Uranium” and that none of the material had been touched since the June attacks.

Iran has not allowed the United Nations nuclear watchdog to access nuclear facilities affected by the 12-day war in June, according to a confidential report by the (IAEA), circulated to member states and accessed on Friday (February 27, 2026.

The report stressed that therefore the agency “cannot verify whether Iran has suspended all enrichment-related activities,” or the “size of Iran’s uranium stockpile at the affected nuclear facilities.”

Iran stored highly enriched uranium at underground site: IAEA report

Some of ​Iran’s most highly enriched ‌uranium, close to ​weapons grade, ⁠was stored in an underground area of ‌its nuclear site in Isfahan, ‌the IAEA said in its report.

It is the first time the ‌agency has reported where uranium ⁠enriched to up to 60% ‌purity, close to the 90% of weapons grade, has been stored.

The tunnel complex’s ‌entrance was hit ​in U.S. and Israeli military ⁠strikes in June but the ⁠facility seems largely unharmed, ‌diplomats say. 

With inputs from AP, Reuters

Iran’s atomic energy chief Mohammad Eslami said no country can deprive the Islamic republic of its right to nuclear enrichment, after U.S. President Donald Trump again hinted at military action following talks in Geneva.

“The basis of the nuclear industry is enrichment. Whatever you want to do in the nuclear process, you need nuclear fuel,” said Mr. Eslami, according to a video published by Etemad daily on Thursday (February 19, 2026).

“Iran’s nuclear programme is proceeding according to the rules of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and no country can deprive Iran of the right to peacefully benefit from this technology.”

The comments follow the second round of Oman-mediated talks between Tehran and Washington in Geneva on Tuesday (February 17).

The two foes had held an initial round of discussions on February 6 in Oman, the first since previous talks collapsed during the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June.

The United States briefly joined the war alongside Israel, striking Iranian nuclear facilities.

On Wednesday (February 18), Mr. Trump again suggested the United States might strike Iran in a post on his Truth Social site.

He warned Britain against giving up sovereignty over the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, saying that the archipelago’s Diego Garcia airbase might be needed were Iran not to agree a deal, “in order to eradicate a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous regime”.

Washington has repeatedly called for zero enrichment, but has also sought to address Iran’s ballistic missile programme and its support for militant groups in the region — issues which Israel has pushed to include in the talks.

Western countries accuse the Islamic republic of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.

Tehran denies having such military ambitions but insists on its right to this technology for civilian purposes.

Mr. Trump, who has ratcheted up pressure on Iran to reach an agreement, has deployed a significant naval force to the region, which he has described as an “armada”.

After sending the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and escort battleships to the Gulf in January, he recently indicated that a second aircraft carrier, the Gerald Ford, would depart “very soon” for the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Iranian naval forces this week conducted military drills in the Gulf and around the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Separately, the Iranian and Russian navies held on Thursday (February 19) joint drills in the Sea of Oman and the northern Indian Ocean, which the official IRNA news agency later announced had ended.

Iran has ‍rejected U.S. calls ​to halt uranium enrichment ‌on ​its territory during talks in Oman on Friday (February 6, 2026), a regional diplomat briefed ​by Tehran told ⁠Reuters, but said it was willing ​to discuss ⁠the “level and purity” of enrichment or a regional ‌consortium.

The diplomat ‌added that Tehran believed ‍the U.S. negotiators “seemed to ‍understand Iran’s stance on the enrichment … and they showed flexibility about Tehran’s demands”.

He added ⁠that Iran’s missile capabilities ​were not discussed during ⁠the talks in Muscat.

Iran’s Foreign Minister on Sunday (November 16, 2025) said that Tehran is no longer enriching uranium at any site in the country.

Answering a question from an Associated Press journalist visiting Iran, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi offered the most direct response yet from the Iranian government regarding its nuclear program following Israel and the United States’ bombing its enrichment sites in June.

“There is no undeclared nuclear enrichment in Iran. All of our facilities are under the safeguards and monitoring” of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mr. Araghchi said. “There is no enrichment right now because our enrichment facilities have been attacked.”

Iran’s government issued a three-day visa for the AP reporter to attend a summit alongside other journalists from major British outlets and other media.

Iran welcomes a potential “fair and balanced” U.S. nuclear proposal, but Tehran has not received any proposal for negotiations, the country’s top diplomat said on Saturday (October 11, 2025).

“If we receive a reasonable, balanced, and fair proposal from the Americans for negotiations, we will certainly consider it,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told state television.

However, Mr. Araqchi said Tehran will not give up its “right to enrich uranium” but can take confidence-building measures regarding “the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme.”

“Of course, this is conditional on the other side also taking steps to build trust — by lifting part of the sanctions,” Mr. Araqchi said, adding that Tehran and Washington had been exchanging messages through mediators.

The United States, its European allies, and Israel accuse Tehran of using its nuclear programme to conceal efforts to try to develop the capability to produce weapons. Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only.

Prior to a 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June, which Washington joined by striking key nuclear sites, Tehran and Washington held five rounds of nuclear talks but faced major stumbling blocks such as uranium enrichment on Iranian soil, which Western powers want to bring down to zero to minimise any risk of weaponisation.

A confidential report by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog circulated to member states and seen by The Associated Press said Wednesday (September 3, 2025) that Iran increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels before Israel launched its military attack on June 13.

The report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency said that as of June 13, Iran had 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60%, an increase of 32.3 kilograms (71.2 pounds) since the IAEA’s last report in May.

Also read | What is next for Iran’s nuclear programme?

The report stated that this figure is “based on the information provided by Iran, agency verification activities between 17 May 2025 and 12 June 2025 (the day preceding the start of the military attacks), and estimates based on the past operation of the relevant facilities.”

That material is a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

The confidential report also said Iran and the IAEA have not reached an agreement on resuming inspections of sites affected by Israeli and U.S. bombing in June.

The only site inspected since the war has been the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, which operates with Russian technical assistance.

The director general of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, said that “technical modalities to enable the full resumption of Agency inspection should be concluded without delay,” the report stated.

The report stated that while the withdrawal of UN inspectors from Iran during the war “was necessary given the overall security situation, Tehran’s “subsequent decision to cut cooperation with the IAEA was ”deeply regrettable.”

As of June 13, Iran’s total enriched uranium stockpile was 9874.9 kilograms, which represents an increase of 627.3 kilograms since the last repot in May, the report said.

The IAEA said that since June 13, it has “not been able to conduct the in-field activities required to collect and verify Iran’s declarations used to estimate the changes to the previously reported stockpile.”

According to the IAEA, approximately 42 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium is theoretically enough to produce one atomic bomb, if enriched further to 90%.

The IAEA also reported that inspectors have not been able to verify Iran’s near bomb-grade stockpile for over two and a half months, which it called “a matter of serious concern.”