Iran has the capacity to start enriching uranium again – for a possible bomb – in “a matter of months”, the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog has said.
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the US strikes on three Iranian sites last weekend had caused severe but “not total” damage, contradicting Donald Trump’s claim that Iran’s nuclear facilities were “totally obliterated”.
“Frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared and there is nothing there,” Grossi said on Saturday.
Israel attacked nuclear and military sites in Iran on 13 June, claiming Iran was close to building a nuclear weapon.
The US later joined the strikes, dropping bombs on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.
Since then, the true extent of the damage has been unclear.
On Saturday, Grossi told CBS News, the BBC’s US media partner, that Tehran could have “in a matter of months… a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium”.
He added that Iran still possessed the “industrial and technological capacities… so if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again.”
The IAEA is not the first body to suggest that Iran’s nuclear abilities could still continue – earlier this week, a leaked preliminary Pentagon assessment found the US strikes probably only set the programme back by months.
Credit: bbc.com
