A group of nuclear inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) departed Iran on Friday, two days after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a bill into law suspending cooperation with the agency.
In a statement posted to X (formerly Twitter), the agency confirmed:
"An IAEA team of inspectors today safely departed from Iran to return to the Agency headquarters in Vienna, after staying in Tehran throughout the recent military conflict."
While the agency did not clarify whether the entire team had departed or just a portion, the move follows Iran’s new legislation that effectively halts cooperation with the IAEA. The law was passed in the wake of Israel’s 12-day war with Iran, which culminated in U.S. airstrikes on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities on June 22.
Under the new legislation, Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization is instructed to cease collaboration with the IAEA until the safety of its nuclear facilities and personnel can be assured. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council will now determine the extent to which, if at all, international inspectors will be permitted access in the future.
Reports emerging from Iran indicate that surveillance cameras at various nuclear facilities have already begun to be removed.
On June 12, Western countries passed a resolution during the IAEA Board of Governors meeting declaring Iran to be in non-compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), based on alleged activity between 2003 and 2018. Observers have noted that this resolution may have served as the pretext for the subsequent Israeli strikes, which were backed by the United States.
In the days leading up to the attacks, Iranian state media released documents allegedly obtained via an intelligence operation. These documents claimed the IAEA had passed confidential communications between the agency and Tehran—along with sensitive information about Iran’s nuclear program—to third parties. Tehran subsequently accused the IAEA of acting as a “tool serving Israel’s interests.”