UN's atomic agency's Iran policy gets mixed reviews from experts after US-Israel 'obliterate' nuclear sites

JERUSALEM - After 12 days of fighting, President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared triumph against Iran's atomic program. 

Trump declared 3 atomic sites had been obliterated, arsenic Netanyahu announced that Israel had "removed an contiguous dual existential threat: some successful the atomic domain and successful the country of ballistic missiles" – achievements the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) failed to scope passim immoderate 20 years of monitoring Iran’s atomic activities. 

Dr. Or Rabinowitz, a atomic proliferation student from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a visiting subordinate prof astatine Stanford University, told Fox News Digital that the IAEA "cannot, by itself, halt a state that wants to divert atomic worldly and exertion from its civilian programme to its subject program." 

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A representation shows wherever Iran's astir important atomic facilities are situated. (Fox News/FDD)

"It tin warn, and that’s what it has been doing," she said. "Sometimes these warnings led to United Nations Security Council resolutions, and sometimes they didn't, but the IAEA by itself, can't bash much than that – it is lone arsenic beardown arsenic the committee members and the countries that enactment successful it."

Days earlier Israel launched its military battle connected Iran with the purpose of removing the atomic – and accepted – weapons threat, the planetary atomic watchdog reported that Iran had an estimated 408.6 kilograms (nearly 901 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60%, capable to marque immoderate 9 atomic bombs. 

The report, which besides criticized Iran’s deficiency of practice with the IAEA, prompted the agency’s committee of governors, for the archetypal clip successful 20 years, to state that the Islamic Republic was successful breach of its non-proliferation obligations.

This outer representation provided by Maxar Technologies shows a adjacent up presumption of holes and craters connected a ridge astatine Fordow enrichment installation successful Iran aft U.S. strikes, Sunday, Jun. 22, 2025. (Maxar Technologies via AP) (Maxar Technologies via AP)

"We shouldn't beryllium amazed by this failure, and we should adhd to this failure, the nonaccomplishment of the United Nations," said Dr. Yoel Guzansky, a elder chap astatine the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University. 

Guzansky highlighted the information that conscionable a week ago, successful the midst of launching hundreds of ballistic missiles into Israeli towns and cities, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addressed the U.N. Human Rights Council successful Geneva. 

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"Iran was welcomed there, and Israel was bashed," helium noted.  

"It conscionable shows that the U.N. strategy has agelong failed, and is agelong successful request of remodeling, remaking, rebuilding," Guzansky continued, adding that compared to different U.N. bodies, "the IAEA is reasonably okay."

"It's not achromatic and white, it has had immoderate achievements, but it depends connected what your expectations are," helium continued. "I don't deliberation anyone expected that the IAEA would wholly forestall Iran."

Guzansky said that 2 decades of inspections and specified reports had really allowed Israel, and the U.S., to "gather quality and an knowing of Iran’s atomic program" – a information that was tested implicit the past week and a half. 

A monolithic plume of fume and occurrence emergence from an lipid refinery successful confederate Tehran pursuing reports that an overnight Israeli onslaught targeted the tract connected Jun. 15, 2025. (ATTA KENARE/AFP)

Iran has consistently maintained that each its nuclear activities were wholly peaceful and that it would ne'er question to make oregon get atomic weapons. 

"The existent occupation present isn't needfully the IAEA, it's that Iran has been cheating for 20 years and has not been playing a consecutive bat," said Alan Mendoza, Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society.

"Iran has been confusing and tricking and secretly processing programs, which the IAEA has not been capable to access," helium said, adding, "so, successful galore ways, it's not the IAEA fault, per se, it doesn't person immoderate enforcement capabilities -- its occupation is conscionable to monitor." 

Mendoza besides said that Iran’s quality to beforehand its atomic ambitions and enrich uranium to weapons people level was "really the responsibility of the planetary community, alternatively than an agency." 

"This could person been cracked down upon years ago, arsenic we person present seen, whether by subject oregon different means, to really unit Iran into compliance," helium said. 

"What this yet shows you is that erstwhile you person an planetary malefactor who continues to privation to crippled the system, the lone mode to woody with them is to stroke up the strategy and say, ‘Okay, you privation to play it that way,’ well, here's our response."

June 9, 2025; Austria, Wien: Rafael Grossi is progressively acrophobic astir Iran's atomic program.  (Albert Otti/picture confederation via Getty Images)

IAEA DIRECTOR SAYS IRAN'S ENRICHED URANIUM CAN'T BE LOCATED FOLLOWING US MILITARY STRIKES

Despite the U.S. and Israel's successful usage of force, the IAEA has held backmost from commending their actions. 

At an exigency league of the agency’s committee members connected Monday, Rafael Grossi, the IAEA’s Director General, was inactive urging diplomacy and informing that warring risked "collapsing the planetary atomic Non Proliferation regime." 

"There is inactive a way for diplomacy, we indispensable instrumentality it, different unit and demolition could scope unimaginable levels, and the planetary Non-Proliferation authorities that has underpinned planetary information for much than fractional a period could crumble and fall," helium said, without a connection astir Iran’s deficiency of transparency and its wide usurpation of planetary agreements implicit much than 2 decades. 

A Ghadr-H missile, center, a Sejjil rocket and a representation of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are connected show for the yearly Defense Week, marking the 37th day of the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, astatine Baharestan Sq. successful Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017 (AP)

But connected Tuesday, 2 days aft the U.S. subject carried retired monolithic precision strikes connected 3 cardinal atomic sites successful Iran, Grossi told Fox News' Martha MacCallum that his bureau did not cognize wherever astir 900 pounds of perchance enriched uranium is present located, aft Iranian officials said it had been removed for protective measures up of the US strikes connected atomic facilities successful Iran.

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"Like each the planetary bodies who person been condemning US and Israeli action, these organizations beryllium for the intent solely of diplomacy," Mendoza said, adding, "The bureau doesn't person immoderate subject function. It has nary recourse to it. It can't telephone for it, so, if you deliberation astir it, each they're doing is simply protecting their presumption wrong the planetary system."

Requests for a effect from the IAEA were not instantly answered connected Wednesday.