In an interview released Saturday by CBS News, IAEA Director
General Rafael Grossi said that despite the scale of the attacks, Iran retains
the technological and industrial capacity to resume its nuclear program.
“They can have, in a matter of months, a few cascades of
centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium or less than that,” Grossi
said.
“The
damage is severe, but not total.”
On June
22, the United States launched a coordinated assault on Iran’s nuclear
infrastructure, dropping six bunker-buster bombs on the Fordo nuclear facility
and unleashing dozens of cruise missiles on key sites in Natanz and Isfahan.
The operation followed rising tensions between Iran and
Israel and was aimed at halting what Washington described as Iran’s expanding
nuclear threat.
In the
wake of the strikes, US officials have pushed back on reports suggesting the
attacks merely delayed Iran’s progress by several months, rather than
eliminating it entirely.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi admitted the
bombings caused “excessive and serious” damage but insisted that Iran retains
core capabilities.
Grossi echoed that concern, saying Iran’s nuclear knowledge
and infrastructure cannot be erased.
“You
cannot disinvent this,” he noted. “Iran is a very sophisticated country in
terms of nuclear technology.”
He also raised alarm over unexplained traces of uranium
found at undeclared Iranian sites, saying the IAEA still lacks credible
explanations about their origin.
On the
issue of Iran’s 408.6-kilogram stockpile of Uranium enriched to 60%, enough to
build more than nine nuclear bombs if further enriched, Grossi said, “Some
could have been destroyed as part of the attack, but some could have been
moved.”
Grossi emphasized the urgency of restoring access for IAEA
inspectors, “There has to be at some point a clarification.”
Araghchi announced Saturday that Grossi would be barred from
entering Iran, a move swiftly condemned by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio,
who called it “a dangerous step toward further nuclear opacity.”
The latest developments come on the heels of a 12-day war
between Israel and Iran, which erupted on June 13 after Israeli airstrikes
targeted Iranian military, nuclear, and civilian sites. Iran’s Health Ministry
reported 606 killed and over 5,300 injured.
In response, Tehran launched drone and missile barrages that
killed at least 29 people in Israel and wounded more than 3,400, according to
figures from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
