Iran's Accusations Against IAEA Inspectors: Espionage, Israel, and the Geopolitics of Nuclear Ambitions

Iran has made a startling claim that reverberated through the international community: inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were accused of smuggling spy chips embedded in their shoes to gather intelligence on Iran's nuclear facilities.

This explosive allegation, leveled by senior Iranian lawmaker Mahmoud Nabavian, deputy chairman of the National Security Committee, has intensified the already fraught tensions between Iran, the IAEA, and Western powers—particularly Israel and the United States. The accusation not only questions the neutrality of the IAEA, an organization tasked with enforcing the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), but also underscores the broader geopolitical struggle involving espionage, nuclear ambitions, and efforts to destabilize Iran through regime change.

Iran’s Accusation: Spy Chips and IAEA Neutrality

On July 12, 2025, Iranian parliamentarian Mahmoud Nabavian claimed that IAEA inspectors had engaged in espionage by planting microchips in their shoes during visits to Iran’s nuclear facilities, such as Natanz, Fordo, and Isfahan. These microchips, according to Nabavian, were used to collect sensitive data, which was allegedly passed to hostile entities, including Israel. Nabavian further accused IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi of sharing classified nuclear information with Western governments, thereby compromising Iran’s national security.

This claim was echoed across Iranian state media and amplified on platforms like X, where users expressed outrage over the perceived betrayal of the IAEA’s mandate as a neutral, technical body tasked with monitoring nuclear activities under the NPT. Iran’s accusations come in the wake of heightened tensions following U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on its nuclear facilities in June 2025, which killed at least 935 people and severely damaged key sites like Natanz and Fordo. Iran’s decision to suspend cooperation with the IAEA and expel its inspectors in early July 2025 was a direct response to these attacks and the agency’s perceived complicity in providing intelligence that facilitated them.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi emphasized that Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA had not ceased but had taken a “new form,” reflecting Tehran’s distrust of the agency’s impartiality. The claim of spy chips is particularly inflammatory because it suggests a deliberate breach of trust by an international organization meant to uphold global nuclear non-proliferation. If true, it would represent a sophisticated form of espionage, leveraging the IAEA’s access to sensitive sites to gather intelligence for foreign powers. However, the lack of concrete evidence presented by Iran has led some to question the veracity of the claim, viewing it as a possible tactic to justify Iran’s withdrawal from IAEA oversight or to rally domestic support amid external pressures.