Unexploded American bombs were discovered at nuclear facilities struck during Operation Midnight Hammer in 2025, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday.
According to Iran’s Young Journalists Club news agency, Araghchi that he inquired into whether there was any law or protocol regarding visits to nuclear facilities struck by the US.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi told him that there "is nothing of that sort," Araghchi added, according to Anadolu.
Araghchi also said that he told Grossi that such a protocol must be created before visits take place, "given existing security issues, including the presence of unexploded bombs and other matters that need to be agreed upon."
Israel has warned that the uranium stockpiles at Fordow are potentially retrievable.
In October, it became clear that despite extensive damage to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure during June’s 12-day war, the majority of the Islamic Republic’s enriched uranium stockpile remains untouched.
Grossi told Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung on October 18 that most of Iran’s 60% enriched uranium “remains in the nuclear facilities in Isfahan and Fordow, and some in Natanz." He confirmed the facilities were “massively damaged," but the uranium itself was largely unaffected.
All three sites were targeted in Operation Rising Lion, the Israeli mission that initiated the brief conflict, followed by US strikes using bunker-busting bombs.
A leaked IAEA report from September indicated Iran had 440kg of enriched uranium as of June. Grossi now estimates the stockpile at approximately 400kg.