U.N. watchdog agency pushes for access to key Iran nuclear site

By Tucker Reals is CBSNews.com's foreign editor, based in the CBS News London bureau. He has worked for CBS News since 2006, prior to which he worked for The Associated Press in Washington, D.C., and London. Read Full Bio November 13, 2026 / 8:02 AM EST / CBS News Add CBS News on Google What to know about the Iran war today:The U.N. nuclear watchdog is "increasingly concerned" about Iran refusing its inspectors access to an underground uranium enrichment facility in Isfahan, where highly enriched uranium is thought to be buried, according to Reuters.Iran's chief negotiator told Al Jazeera Thursday that U.S. officials asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to facilitate negotiations between Washington and Tehran. The White House has not responded directly to the report."We don't need a deal with Iran," President Trump declared Thursday, ordering Vice President JD Vance to focus on domestic politics instead. Hours earlier, Mr. Trump had again claimed victory in the war, but acknowledged it wasn't over, saying it was "just a question of when we want to end it." 0m ago U.N. nuclear watchdog "increasingly concerned" about Iran refusing access to underground uranium facility The United Nations nuclear watchdog agency is "increasingly concerned" about its lack of access to an underground Iranian uranium enrichment facility that Tehran has acknowledged exists, but refused to allow inspectors to visit, according to Reuters."The Agency does not know IFEP's exact location, status for safeguards purposes or whether it contains nuclear material," Reuters quoted the International Atomic Energy Agency as saying in a quarterly report to member states, referring to the Isfahan Fuel Enrichment Plant (IFEP). The IAEA asked Iran to allow inspectors to visit the IFEP in February, but Tehran refused, telling the U.N. agency that "conditions resulting from acts of aggression and the continuation of threats have created a situation in which the normal implementation of safeguards is legally untenable and materially impracticable."The refusal came after the U.S. and Israel pummeled Iranian nuclear sites, including Isfahan, with a wave of missile strikes in June 2025.The IAEA said in a September report that, since then, it had observed, in satellite imagery, "regular vehicular activity around the entrance to the tunnel complex at Isfahan," where the agency believes some of the Iran's roughly 900-pound highly-enriched uranium stockpile is believed to have been buried by the June 2025 missile strikes."In light of this activity," the IAEA said it requested in February that Iran give inspectors access "as soon as possible," but Tehran has continued to refuse, the nuclear watchdog agency says, citing the attacks on its territory. Iranian technicians watch as an inspector with the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency works at the Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facilities (UCF), south of Tehran, Iran, in a file photo from Aug. 8, 2005. BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty The Trump administration has framed Iran's controversial nuclear program as the primary justification for the war, but it has vacillated during the conflict between suggesting Iran would give up its remaining stockpile voluntarily, to declaring the issue largely resolved."More than 80 percent of their nuclear industrial base — gone," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared earlier this week," adding: "CRAZY ISLAMISTS IN TEHRAN WILL NEVER EVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON."But Iran has agreed to nothing so far regarding its uranium stockpiles or its enrichment program, including renewed IAEA inspections. It has refused to negotiate with the U.S. on the topic until a formal ceasefire is implemented.On Wednesday, a top Iranian security official insisted Tehran would "not remove even a single particle of enriched nuclear material from the country."President Trump said Thursday that, "we don't need a deal with Iran," suggesting he may be willing to leave the matter unresolved. 0m ago Iran's Revolutionary Guard says it destroyed U.S. radar system in Bahrain Iran's Revolutionary Guard says it destroyed a U.S. early warning radar in Bahrain, the first such claim in months.It couldn't be independently verified. A report by Iran's official IRNA news agency on Friday quoted a statement by the Guard as saying the attack on the U.S. radar system followed a U.S. strike on a telecommunications pole in the southern Iranian port of Sirik.Bahrain has been one of the strongest critics of Iran and is home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.The statement said the attack on the radar was a serious warning to the U.S. to cease its strikes. It was the first report by Iran of targeting a facility in Bahrain since September.During an air war that began in February, Iran targeted U.S. bases in neighboring Arab nations including Bahrain in retaliation for U.S. strikes. Since then, Iran routinely targets oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway for international oil shipments.Iran continues to warn ships not to pass through the strategic shipping lane without its approval. 0m ago Iran says another ship hit a mine in Strait of Hormuz Iran's Revolutionary Guard said Friday that there was an explosion on a ship that struck a mine in the Strait of Hormuz, where Tehran has sought to restrict navigation.Since the outbreak of the Middle East war in late February, Tehran has insisted that vessels obtain its authorization to traverse the strait and has attacked vessels that don't comply.In response, the United States imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports and began providing military support to tankers using the vital trade route."A few hours ago, a ship carrying liquefied natural gas east of the Strait of Hormuz tried to cross an unauthorized passageway south of the strait, but was hit by a naval mine and exploded violently," the IRGC said on Friday, without giving the name or origin of the vessel.In recent weeks, Iran's armed forces have repeatedly reported fires or explosions on ships in the strait, often saying they'd hit mines.The U.S. military, however, claims to have cleared the waterway's routes of mines. 0m ago Iran claims U.S. asked Russia to mediate deal Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Iran's chief negotiator, told Al Jazeera that U.S. officials requested that Russian President Vladimir Putin facilitate negotiations between Washington and Tehran."It was the Americans who, during a visit to Moscow, spoke with Mr. Putin and asked him to speak with Iran so that, in any case, Iran would agree to speak directly with them," Qalibaf said.The White House did not directly respond to the Associated Press' query about whether the U.S. had asked Putin to facilitate talks with Iran.President Trump's senior envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were in Russia Thursday, where they met Putin to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine. In their remarks after the meeting, neither Putin nor Mr. Trump's envoys mentioned any discussion about Iran.-CBS/AP 0m ago Trump says "we don't need a deal with Iran," tells Vance to focus on alleged Democratic corruption President Trump told Vice President JD Vance on Thursday to shift his focus away from the Iran war and instead devote himself to fighting what the president claims is corruption and crime in Democratic-controlled cities and states.Vance, who served as the lead negotiator for a short-lived truce in the eight-month war, has been blunt in blaming the conflict — and the economic reverberations it has caused — for Republicans' sweeping losses in last week's midterm elections in the United States.But Mr. Trump brusquely told Vance, in a social media post, to shift his energies away from the Iran war to what he argues is a more pressing - and perhaps more politically salient - issue after Republicans were trounced at the polls."We don't need a deal with Iran," Mr. Trump said in the post. "Those days have long since passed. We've got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we've got their Strait!"Mr. Trump earlier this week said he believed the war "militarily is effectively over," and appeared to double down on that message by pointedly directing Vance "to focus his complete and total attention" on his anti-fraud campaign.His directive came after The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday evening that Vance was weighing engaging in a new round of direct talks with a senior Iranian official. The vice president's office did not respond to a request for comment.-CBS/AP In: War International Atomic Energy Agency Iran Nuclear Weapons Donald Trump Middle East Strait of Hormuz Bessent relocated to military base over threats, Trump says U.S. won the Iran war 02:58 Bessent relocated to military base over threats, Trump says U.S. won the Iran war (02:58)