An explosive investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency has uncovered what Israel has been sounding the alarm about for years.
For the first time in nearly two decades, the U.N. nuclear watchdog has formally concluded that Iran violated its non-proliferation nuclear obligations through secret activities at three undeclared locations. Lavisan-Shian, Varamin and Turquzabad.
At the Lavisan-Shian facility in Tehran, investigators determined that a uranium metal disc was used in the production of explosively-driven neutron sources at least twice in 2003. All buildings at the former nuclear facility were demolished between 2003 and 2004, shortly after international scrutiny intensified. U.S. intelligence accused Iran of removing substantial amounts of topsoil and rubble, replacing it with fresh soil in what officials described as an attempt to sanitize evidence of secret nuclear activity.
At Varamin, investigators uncovered evidence of a former secret pilot uranium conversion plant that was also part of the Amad Plan. Site usage included storing nuclear materials and fuel-cycle-related activities, with evidence suggesting that materials and equipment were later moved to Turquzabad for long-term storage. Iran initially denied IAEA requests for access to Varamin in 2020, only granting permission after reaching an agreement with the agency eight months later. Environmental samples confirmed the presence of processed uranium at the location.
Meanwhile, tons od undeclared nuclear material and heavily contaminated equipment from Iran’s secret weapons program remained stored at at Turquzabad between 2009 and 2018, years after Iran claimed to have abandoned all weapons-related research. Public attention came to the site in 2018 when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed its existence at the United Nations, calling it a clandestine nuclear warehouse hidden at a rug-cleaning plant.
Beyond historical violations, Iran’s current nuclear capabilities have reached alarming new thresholds. The regime had installed 13,555 advanced centrifuges, including IR-2m, IR-4, and IR-6 models. Most powerful IR-6 centrifuges produce more than four times the enrichment output of Iran’s older IR-1 machines. In just three months between 2024, Iran deployed 3,226 centrifuges across 19 cascades, the largest single deployment in any IAEA reporting period.
Enhanced capacity means Iran is now producing roughly one significant quantity of highly enriched uranium every six weeks. Yet, rather than prioritizing the accumulation of uranium enriched between 2 to 5% for civilian nuclear power reactor fuel, as Iran claims is its primary goal, Iran had amassed 408.6 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% purity, making it the only non-nuclear weapon state to possess such highly enriched uranium. Iran’s stockpile represents a 50% increase since the agency’s report, bringing the regime’s total to enough fissile material for nine nuclear weapons if enriched further to weapons-grade levels.
Israel, which has consistently warned about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, seized on the findings as vindication.
“Iran is totally determined to complete its nuclear weapons program,” Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office declared Saturday. “Such a level of enrichment exists only in countries actively pursuing nuclear weapons and has no civilian justification whatsoever,”
Of course, Tehran’s response was swift and defiant with the regime’s foreign ministry and nuclear agency issueig a joint statement rejecting the report as “politically motivated,” while promising to take “appropriate measures” against any punitive action by the IAEA Board of Governors.
Yet even as tensions escalate, diplomatic channels remain active. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi revealed Saturday that his Omani counterpart had delivered “elements of a U.S. proposal for a nuclear deal” during a brief Tehran visit.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff “has sent a detailed and acceptable proposal to the Iranian regime, and it’s in their best interest to accept it.”
A sixth round of U.S.-Iran talks is anticipated, though no date or venue has been announced.
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