The head of the UN nuclear agency said on Tuesday (October 27, 2026) there has been no indication Iran has tried to repair or reconstruct its nuclear facilities damaged in U.S. and Israeli military strikes this year or last year.

President Donald Trump has said one of the major reasons the U.S. went to war with Iran on Feb. 28 was to deny Tehran the ability to develop nuclear weapons, even as he has insisted that strikes the U.S. carried out on Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025 “obliterated” the country’s atomic program.

During a UN Security Council meeting, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi urged Iran to give inspectors access to all nuclear sites, including those damaged in the military attacks. The IAEA has not been able to verify the status of Iran’s stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium since the U.S. bombed its sites last year.

However, Mr. Grossi said that “since June 2025, we have not identified any activity to repair or reconstruct any of the facilities damaged in the military attacks of 2025 and 2026.”

Mr. Trump has consistently downplayed the economic impact of the Iran war, which has emerged as a liability for Republicans heading into next week’s midterm elections, and has argued that higher fuel prices are worth paying to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Mr. Grossi’s remarks.

Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful. However, the IAEA says the country has a stockpile of 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60% purity — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

The UN meeting on Tuesday (October 27, 2026) was called by Bahrain, Denmark, Latvia, France, the United Kingdom and United States after the IAEA referred Iran to the Security Council for failing to comply with its nuclear nonproliferation obligations. Russia and China, allies of Iran, tried unsuccessfully to prevent the meeting.

Under those obligations, which are part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran is legally bound to declare all nuclear material and activities and allow IAEA inspectors to verify that none of it is being diverted from peaceful uses.

Iran’s UN deputy ambassador Gholamhossein Darzi attacked the council for its silence after the U.S.-Israeli attacks, denouncing their “wars of aggression against Iran” and accusing the U.S. of committing war crimes against the Iranian people.

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He never mentioned the IAEA’s unanswered questions or the demand to return its inspectors. Instead, he asserted that “Israel possesses nuclear weapons, yet your concern is the absence of inspectors in Iran.” Israel has never confirmed that it possesses nuclear weapons.

US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz called Iran a “brutal dictatorship” and asked if the Iranian ambassador wanted to apologize to Bahrain’s envoy, a council member, for attacking his country.

“We’ve heard tireless allegations against the United States, ” he said. “What we have not heard today is an explanation for Iran’s continued failure to satisfy its safeguard obligations.”

The IAEA asked Iran for answers, Mr. Waltz said, and it would be smart for the Iranian representative to start providing some answers. “Your lies are no good here,” he said.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday (October 25, 2026) that a potential resumption of war with Israel and the United States would not change his country’s positions.

The remarks come amid mounting U.S and Israeli threats of renewed attacks on Iran, as President Donald Trump said on Friday (October 23, 2026) that Washington “may do another little Epic Fury,” referring to the U.S-Israeli campaign on Iran that began on February 28.

“Recently, there has been talk of a new war, but I am already thinking about the post-war period. Whether there is war or not, our policies remain the same,” said Mr. Araghchi during a televised event in Tehran.

“They have already done so twice and have seen the results. If they want to try again, they know they will achieve no different outcome from those of the past,” he added.

An April 8 ceasefire between Iran and the United States put an end to the most intense fighting, apart from sporadic exchanges of fire in and around the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global energy supplies.

These military flare-ups have lulled in recent weeks.

Iran has claimed control over Strait of Hormuz since the outbreak of the war and has regularly targeted vessels that attempt crossing without its authorisation, moves strongly opposed by Washington and countries in the region.

In response, the U.S has been maintaining a naval counter-blockade on Iranian ports.

In June, Iran agreed with the United States to a memorandum of understanding laying out a pathway to a permanent settlement of the conflict, only for the deal to later unravel as each side accused the other of violating it.

Tehran has since called for a return to the accord to end the conflict.

“The current war has changed everything. We must accept that new realities are taking hold. Shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz will no longer be the same, and the management of the strait will no longer be the same,” said Mr. Araghchi.

“To achieve peace and stability, our region must move towards the complete absence of foreign forces,” he added.

President Donald Trump cast his ballot in the midterm elections Saturday (October 24, 2026), saying he voted for all Republicans in Florida before speaking at a Georgia rally.

Mr. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrived at their West Palm Beach polling location at the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections office together after the President spent the morning at his nearby golf course. Mr. Trump has been criticised in the past for voting by mail despite his long history of railing against that method of submitting ballots.

Asked if he voted the party line, Mr. Trump, who was wearing an “I Voted” sticker, said, “Very much so.”

Speaking to reporters at the poll site, Mr. Trump again defended an ad from Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. The ad has faced intense blowback for featuring the estranged mother of Democratic rival Dr. Amy Acton, who lost custody of her children after her husband, the children’s stepfather, was indicted for raping Acton when she was 12.

Mr. Trump also defended his decision to instruct his administration to file its lawsuit to block certification of the U.S. Senate race in Alaska if Republican Senator Dan Sullivan loses over the inclusion of a second candidate named Dan Sullivan on the ballot.

As for the war in Iran, he said, “I may have to finish it off. Or maybe they’ll make a deal, but I’m not sure. Either way, we win.”

Melania Trump, who this week brokered a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the ravaged, Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky so that humanitarian aid could be delivered and civilians evacuated, was asked whether she might travel to Ukraine.

“We will see,” she told reporters.

In Florida, Mr. Trump has endorsed Republican Representative Byron Donalds, who is running against David Jolly, a Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat, to succeed term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis.

He has also campaigned for Republican Senator Ashley Moody, who is running to fill the last two years of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s former Senate term against progressive state lawmaker Angie Nixon.

The United States could strike Iran as soon as this weekend, a U.S. envoy said Friday (October 24, 2026), after mounting threats by both Washington and Israel.

“Could there be a strike this weekend? Absolutely,” Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and point man on Syria who does not have a direct role on Iran, told podcast host Mario Nawfal.

President Donald Trump “is very clear. He’s open and available and accessible to a deal and we’ve been at the table for months and months and months,” Mr. Barrack said in an interview as he visited the Gulf.

Mr. Trump, a business partner and friend of Mr. Barrack, downplayed the remarks when asked to confirm an attack could come this weekend.

“That was my ambassador? He’s a pretty powerful man, I guess. If that’s the case, I don’t know anything about it,” Mr. Trump told reporters in Florida.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces elections Tuesday (October 27), has in recent days repeatedly vowed to topple the clerical state in Iran, following two major bombing campaigns against it since last year.

Trump has also signalled an openness to resuming strikes after a long deadlock in diplomacy, although he earlier said it would not happen before U.S. congressional elections on November 3.

Mr. Barrack, in remarks that contradict Mr. Netanyahu, said the U.S. was not looking to topple the Islamic Republic, a sworn enemy of the United States and Israel since a 1979 revolution toppled the pro-Western shah.

“If you keep threatening the world, our allies, the Gulf, there will be a consequence. The consequence won’t be regime change,” Mr. Barrack said.

“The United States — the President of the United States — has said he’s not interested in regime change,” he added.

“The problem with regime change always is, what’s the day-two scenario?”

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Saturday (October 17, 2026) said an oil tanker was on fire in the Strait of Hormuz after hitting a mine in the waterway at the heart of the West Asia war.

Tehran seized control over Hormuz after the start of the war in late February, choking off the strait that normally carries about one-fifth of global oil consumption.

“A supertanker in violation of regulations, carrying more than two million barrels of crude oil and attempting to pass illegally through the Strait of Hormuz, struck a mine, triggering an explosion and a fierce fire,” the Revolutionary Guards said.

The statement did not specify the exact location of the incident.

Flanked by Iran to the north and Oman to the south, the Hormuz strait is about 30 kilometres wide at its narrowest point.

Since taking control of the strait, Iran has demanded that all ships seek its authorisation before transiting.

“The tanker attempted to cross the strait with U.S. support… by deactivating all its tracking systems,” the Guards added, also posting a video of a vessel in flames during the night.

In response to Tehran’s blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, Washington has imposed its own naval counter-blockade on Iranian oil exports.

This week, the Guards’ naval commander Admiral Ali Ozmai warned that any vessel that deactivated its navigation systems would be considered “hostile”.

The United States is considering using its biggest non-nuclear bomb against Iran if President Donald Trump should decide to renew combat in the war that has hit a deadlock, CNN reported Thursday (October 15, 2026).

The military is planning for the potential use of the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb — better known by its nickname, the “Mother Of All Bombs” — to target Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites, according to the news outlet, which quoted officials familiar with the matter.

Mr. Trump is trying to boost his low approval ratings ahead of November’s midterm elections, with polls showing the unpopular war in Iran and fuel and other price rises it has caused are hurting his Republican Party.

Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, which erupted with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran in February, have been at an impasse since the summer.

But officials have raised doubts over the efficacy of the bomb if it were deployed, particularly its ability to destroy suspected underground nuclear sites in the Islamic republic.

“The MOAB is a massive information operation type weapon that is great for huge area clearance but not much else,” a source familiar with the plans told CNN.

“It is definitely not designed as a deep penetration warhead.”

The United States and Israel have said the war was necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons — a goal Tehran has long denied pursuing.

There are also concerns over the possibility of civilian casualties from such a huge weapon.

Washington has in recent weeks dialled back military operations in favour of economic pressure.

AFP has contacted the Pentagon for comment.

In 2017, the U.S. military in Afghanistan dropped the “MOAB” to target Islamic State group hideouts in a complex of tunnels and bunkers, killing more than 90 militants.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on ‌Tuesday (October 6, 2026) that nobody knew who was running ​Iran during the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, ⁠now in its eighth month.

“Their leaders are gone, their second group of leaders is gone, and ‌the biggest problem I have is nobody knows who the hell is running ‌the country,” Mr. Trump said.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry ‌spokesman ⁠said on Sunday (October 4, 2026) Washington knows very well ⁠who its counterpart is in Iran and how the decision-making system in Iran works.

“The problem is actually the opposite: ​it lies in ‌the contradictory positions and mixed messaging from US officials,” Esmaeil Baghaei said in a news conference.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed ‌on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli war ​on Iran, which began on February 28. His son, Mojtaba Khamenei, succeeded him ⁠but has not been seen in public since he was injured in the same strike that killed ‌his father.

Iran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host U.S. bases.

U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions.

Fuel prices that have risen in ‌response to the war are also a risk to Mr. Trump’s ​Republican Party ahead of the November U.S. midterm elections in which control of Congress ⁠is at stake.

Mr. Trump, whose approval rating has ⁠held at a record low amid concerns of high cost of living spurred by ‌soaring gasoline and diesel prices, has offered shifting timelines and goals for the war.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Wednesday (September 30, 2026) said there were “strong indications” that Iran was involved in suspicious activity at a U.K. airbase that triggered a major security incident this weekend.

“There are strong indications that Iran played a part in what happened over the weekend at RAF Fairford,” Mr. Burnham told the BBC, referring to Sunday’s bomb scare near the airbase in southwest England, which is used by the U.S. military in its war against Iran.

“Of course it remains an ongoing, complex, and serious police investigation,” said Mr. Burnham.

Iran’s embassy in London earlier said it “categorically rejects and strongly condemns” speculation it was involved in the incident, while Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X that Mr. Burnham was “barking up the wrong tree”.

Police said on Tuesday (September 29, 2026) that no explosives were found at the scene. The nature of the threat has not been explained by officials.

Mr. Burnham’s comments are the first official confirmation from U.K. authorities that Iran may have had a hand in the incident, which saw three white vans appearing to head towards RAF Fairford in the early hours of Sunday.

A local resident who rang the police said she saw a group of masked men near the vans, which were blocking a road in a village next to the military base.

Growing confusion

The case was plunged into confusion when U.K. police released on bail five British men it had arrested on Sunday (September 27, 2026) on suspicion of explosives and terrorism offences.

After three days of investigations, including using a bomb disposal team, police said Tuesday they had found no explosives in the vehicles, but they had retrieved a “quantity of petrol”.

Then on Wednesday (September 30, 2026), The Times newspaper reported that the incident had been foiled after one of the five suspects tipped off the police before the group was apprehended.

U.S. President Donald Trump and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio had previously indicated that intelligence bodies were aware of the suspects and that a foreign state could be involved, but U.K. officials had not weighed in.

“We have been waiting to confirm what we could say, but we can now confirm our belief that Iran played a part,” Mr. Burnham told Sky News.

Speculation was rife that Iran or another hostile state could have been involved, after Tehran previously warned London against allowing its military bases to be used by Washington.

Britain gave the U.S. the greenlight to use RAF Fairford for defensive strikes against Iran, drawing Tehran’s ire and unease from some residents in the Gloucestershire countryside where the base is located.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi received U.S. feedback via Qatari mediators in Doha on Tuesday (September 29, 2026), on a seven-day plan aimed at building trust between Washington and Tehran, with the sequencing of steps the main sticking point, an official who was not Iranian but was briefed on the talks told Reuters.

Mr. Araqchi is expected to discuss the U.S. response in Tehran on Wednesday (September 30, 2026), the official said.

Iran last week presented a seven-day proposal under which Mr. Araqchi said the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened and normal maritime passage restored if the necessary conditions were met. U.S. President Donald Trump subsequently rejected the proposal, prompting further Qatari mediation.

The Qatari mediators conveyed the feedback they had received from Washington on Monday (September 28, 2026), meeting Mr. Araqchi and his team on their way back from the United States, the official said.

The document being circulated outlines a seven-day period of trust-building aimed at returning the two sides to an enhanced version of the memorandum of understanding agreed in June 2026, including concrete steps on Iran’s nuclear programme, the official said, without further elaboration. The disagreement centres on the sequencing of the steps rather than the components of the plan, the official added.

Qatar has been shuttling messages between Washington and Tehran in an effort to end the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The memorandum of understanding of June 2026 led to a brief ceasefire and included provisions on the strait and Iran’s nuclear programme.