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Iran has the capacity to start enriching uranium – for a possible bomb – in “a few months,” said the leader of the UN nuclear guard dog.
Rafael Grossi, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said that the They strikes on three Iranian sites Last weekend had caused serious but “not total” damage, contradicting the assertion of Donald Trump according to which Iranian nuclear installations were “completely erased”.
“Frankly, we cannot pretend that everything has disappeared and that there is nothing there,” said Grosi on Saturday.
Israel attacked nuclear and military sites in Iran on June 13, saying that Iran was about to build a nuclear weapon.
The United States then joined strikes, dropping bombs on three of Iranian nuclear installations: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.
Since then, the real extent of damage has not been clear.
On Saturday, Grosi told CBS News, the BBC American media partner, that Tehran could have “in a few months … Some centrifugal cascades that turn and produce enriched uranium”.
He added that Iran still had “industrial and technological capacities … So if they wish, they can start doing this again”.
AIAA is not the first body to suggest that Iran’s nuclear capacities could continue – earlier this week, A preliminary evaluation of the pentagon disclosed I found that the American strikes probably only do the program per month.
It is possible, however, that future intelligence reports will include more information showing a different level of damage to installations.
Trump retorted furiously by declaring that Iranian nuclear sites were “completely destroyed” and accused the media of “an attempt to lower one of the most successful military strikes in history”.
For the moment, Iran and Israel have accepted a ceasefire.
But Trump said He would “absolutely” consider bombing Iran If intelligence noted that it could enrich uranium at levels concerning levels.
Iran, on the other hand, has sent contradictory messages to the quantity of damage caused.
In a speech Thursday, the supreme chief of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that strikes had done nothing important. His Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi, however, said that “excessive and serious” damage had been caused.
The relationship already trained by Iran with the IAEA was challenged on Wednesday, when its Parliament moved to suspend cooperation with the atomic guard dog, accusing the IAEA of storing with Israel and the United States.
Friday, Araghchi said on X that “the insistence of gross to visit the bombed sites under the pretext of the guarantees is meaningless and perhaps even clever on intention”.
Israel and the United States attacked Iran after the IAEA last month Tehran found the violation of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in 20 years.
Iran insists that its nuclear program is peaceful and for civil use only.
Despite the Iranian refusal to work with his organization, Grosi said he hoped that he could still negotiate with Tehran.
“I have to sit with Iran and examine this, because in the end, all this, after military strikes, must have a lasting solution, which can only be diplomatic,” he said.
Under a 2015 nuclear agreement with the global powers, Iran was not authorized to enrich uranium greater than 3.67% – the level required for fuel for commercial nuclear power plants – and was not authorized to enrich its Fordo factory for 15 years.
However, Trump abandoned the agreement during his first mandate in 2018, saying that he had done too little to stop a way to a bomb and restored American sanctions.
Iran retaliated by increasingly breaking the restrictions – in particular those relating to enrichment. He resumed enrichment in Fordo in 2021 and had raised enough uranium enriched 60% to potentially make nine nuclear bombs, according to the AIEA.
