UN pulls inspectors from Iran as Israel aims to maintain ‘aerial superiority’
Atomic watchdog’s withdrawal comes despite no independent assessment of damage to Tehran’s nuclear facilities
Israel intends to maintain “aerial superiority” over Iran to protect itself from future threats from the Islamic republic, the country’s defence minister has said, as the UN confirmed it had pulled out the inspectors who have provided information on the progress of Tehran’s nuclear programme.
The comments by Israel Katz came ahead of the announcement by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog, that a team of its inspectors had left Iran on Friday after staying in Tehran throughout last month’s 12-day war with Israel.
“The Israel Defense Forces’ mission now is to prepare a ‘blue and white’ enforcement plan to ensure Iran will not be able to threaten Israel again,” Katz told his country’s military on Thursday night, in an apparent reference to the colours of the Israeli flag.
His office did not share further details, but the outline echoed how Israel has interpreted a ceasefire with Hizbollah in Lebanon, where the air force has carried out near-daily air strikes even after the formal cessation of hostilities in November 2024.
Katz’s instructions came at a time when there is less information available about Iran’s nuclear activities than before the war.
There has been no independent assessment of the damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities since US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire last week.
The location of the country’s enriched uranium stockpiles — including 400kg that had been enriched to about 60 per cent purity, or near weapons grade — remains unknown.
Friday’s announcement by the IAEA that it had withdrawn its remaining inspectors, the chief independent source of information about the nuclear programme for more than two decades, came after Iran’s parliament passed a law suspending co-operation with the agency.
In a post on X, Rafael Grossi, the UN agency’s director-general, said it was of “crucial importance” that the IAEA discuss with Tehran how it could resume “its indispensable monitoring and verification activities in Iran as soon as possible”.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the Islamic republic remained committed to its obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, and Steve Witkoff, US special envoy to the Middle East, may meet Iranian officials in Europe next week, according to a report by Axios.
The status of Iran’s nuclear programme — and how much the US and Israeli attacks have set back the country’s atomic ambitions — represents one of the most contentious issues about the recent war.
While Trump has said the programme has been “obliterated” by the US attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the Pentagon said this week that it had been “degraded . . . by one to two years”.
Tehran insists its atomic programme is purely peaceful, but Israel has long regarded the possibility of a nuclear-armed Iran as an existential threat while refusing to declare its own secret arsenal.
Katz said in his comments on Thursday night that he had instructed the military to ensure that Israel’s air force, the most technically advanced in the region, maintains its “air superiority and the ability to enforce the restrictions on Iran”.
“The state of Israel is determined to lead an active defence policy against Iran,” he said.
During last month’s war, the Israeli air force quickly took control of Iran’s skies after destroying the country’s limited aerial defences.
That enabled Israeli warplanes to strike across Iran at will, and cleared the way for the US assault on fortified underground nuclear facilities.
The Iranian armed forces’ chief of staff, Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, warned Israel of a forceful reaction to any further military aggression.
“We had designed a crippling plan [in response to Israel’s offensive], but we did not get an opportunity to implement it when the conflict was halted,” the top military commander said on Friday.
“If they attack Iran once again, they will see what we will do in response. In that case, even the US may not be able to save [Israeli President Benjamin] Netanyahu.”
Also speaking on Friday, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated Tehran’s commitment to diplomacy, adding the Islamic republic was seeking to resolve issues through dialogue, before it was attacked by Israel.
“Iran still considers negotiation and diplomacy as an effective means of resolving differences,” he said during a visit to neighbouring Azerbaijan, adding, “The other side, however, will need to demonstrate through action that it remains committed to this approach.”
Before Israel’s unexpected assault in June, Iran had fired missiles at Israel on two previous occasions in retaliation for Israeli assassinations in Tehran and of Iranian military staff in a diplomatic compound in Syria.