THE head of the United Nations atomic watchdog is set to travel to Iran today, as the agency claims it is increasingly difficult to monitor the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme.

Rafael Mariano Grossi has already warned that Tehran has enough uranium enriched to near-weapons-grade levels to make “several” nuclear bombs if it chose to do so. 

Tensions remain high in the Middle East following the invasion of Gaza and Iran’s strike against Israel in April, sparked by Tel Aviv’s attack on the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus, which killed two top Iranian generals.

The city of Isfahan has reportedly come under Israeli fire in recent weeks, despite it being surrounded by sensitive nuclear sites. 

Mr Grossi is likely to attend an Iranian nuclear conference during his two-day trip.

“Problems will not disappear,” Mr Grossi told an International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors meeting in March. “They will only get worse. So, we need to address this in a serious way.”

Iranian media said Mr Grossi would meet Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Monday afternoon. 

Mr Grossi is due to travel to Isfahan on Tuesday before heading back to Vienna, where he plans to hold a press conference.

Tensions have grown between Iran and the agency since 2018, when then-president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers. 

Since then, Iran has abandoned all limits the deal imposed and enriches uranium to 60 per cent purity — the weapons-grade level is 90 per cent.

Israel has its own long-standing nuclear weapons programme, though it has never been officially acknowledged.

Observers suggest that the recent Israeli aggression in Damascus may prompt Iran to pursue its own nuclear bomb.