The International Atomic Energy Agency told member states on Friday that it could no longer verify the size or location of Iran's stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 per cent. The finding appeared in a confidential quarterly report seen by Reuters and the Associated Press. The report said Tehran had still not granted inspectors access to its bombed enrichment sites.

The report was circulated ahead of the agency's Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, which opens on Monday. The board voted on 9 September by 23 to three, with eight abstentions, to report Iran to the UN Security Council and General Assembly. It was the first such referral in about two decades. The agency's last verified estimate put the 60 per cent stockpile at roughly 440kg, enough for several weapons if enriched further.

Rafael Grossi, the IAEA's director general, wrote that the agency had lost continuity of knowledge over the material since the US and Israeli strikes on Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan in June 2025. The report said inspections at undamaged facilities had resumed only partially. It said Iran had provided no special report on the status of the damaged sites or the material inside them.

The findings followed a warning on Thursday from Mohsen Rezaei, a senior figure in Iran's security establishment. He said Tehran would target American bases if attacks on its territory were renewed and that its enriched material would remain on Iranian soil. Diplomats from Britain, France and Germany were expected to use the report to press for tougher language at next week's board meeting.

The report adds pressure on Washington and its European allies to decide how far to escalate at the Security Council. UN sanctions on Iran were reimposed under the snapback mechanism in September 2025. Iran's mission to the IAEA in Vienna has previously described the agency's reports as politically motivated.