The head of the UN nuclear watchdog said the strikes caused “severe” but not “total damage” despite claims of “destruction” by the US.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (Image: Getty)
Iran could be capable of restarting production of enriched uranium “in a matter of months” despite heavy American and Israeli strikes, according to the chief of the UN’s nuclear watchdog. Rafael Grossi’s comments echo the findings of a leaked intial US intelligence assessment that suggested Iran’s nuclear programme had only been put back by “a few months”.
Donald Trump claimed the US attacks “obliterated” Iran’s crucial Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites. Mr Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the strikes caused “very serious level of damage” but warned it appeared they had not been as devastating as initially claimed. “One cannot claim that everything has disappeared and there is nothing there,” Mr Grossi said.
Donald Trump said the US strikes had “obliterated” the sites (Image: Getty)
In an interview with American broadcaster CBS News, due to air on Sunday, he said: “The capacities they [Iran] have are there.
“They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that. But as I said, frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared and there is nothing there.”
Enriched uranium is used to build nuclear weapons which Israel and the US claimed Iran was close to achieving – something Tehran has vehemently denied, stating its nuclear programme is peaceful.
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Rafael Grossi said Iran could restart producing enrich uranium within “a matter of months” (Image: Getty)
Mr Grossi continued: “Because, first of all, as I — and I think the intelligence — we are not there making any military evaluations, first of all, but, out of the logic of our conversation, it is clear that there has been severe damage, but it’s not total damage, first of all.
“And secondly, Iran has the capacities there; industrial and technological capacities. So if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again.”
He added there is a need to return to the negotiating table and achieve a “technically sound solution to this”.
It comes as a spokesman for Israel‘s foreign ministry claimed Iran was at the “11th hour” of being able to build a nuclear bomb.
Israeli strikes also targeted Iran’s ballistic missile programme and Oren Marmorstein claimed Iran was working on building weapons capable of striking European cities, including London, with devastating effects.
Mr Marmorstein said: “[Iran] were moving into industrial scale and about to become the number one ballistic missile producer in the world.
“Some of these are intercontinental, which are not for us.
“They were getting closer and closer, almost to the point of no return,” he added.
Israeli intelligence claims Iran was working on boosting production to more than 20,000 ballistic missiles which are hard to stop due to the high speed and trajectory they travel at.
