UN: Iran Hasn't Repaired Facilities    10/28 06:10

   The head of the U.N. nuclear agency said Tuesday 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.

   UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The head of the U.N. nuclear agency said Tuesday 
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 U.N. 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, 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."

   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 Tuesday evening 
to a request for comment on 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 U.N. meeting on Tuesday 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 U.N. 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.

   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.

   U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. 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, Waltz said, and it would be smart for the 
Iranian representative to start providing some answers.

   "Your lies are no good here," he said.