IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi stated that Iran had granted permission to the agency to inspect its nuclear facilities. He noted that while Iran did cooperate with the agency, the level of transparency was inadequate. His comments came in the aftermath of US military strikes on several Iranian nuclear sites.
Grossi reported that Iran’s cooperation was limited and left several questions unanswered. Uranium residue had been discovered in locations where its presence was deemed highly unlikely. According to Grossi, the explanations provided by Iran were not sufficiently credible, and the overall lack of transparency raised serious concerns.
On the question of whether Iran was close to developing a nuclear weapon, Grossi confirmed that the country had both the necessary quantity of uranium and the technological capability to build up to ten nuclear weapons. He added that it was not possible to say with certainty that Iran did not already possess nuclear weapons.
Reports surfaced indicating that Iran had moved 400 kilograms of uranium from its known nuclear facilities to a secret location prior to the US strikes. Grossi clarified that the IAEA had inspected the uranium just hours before the attack and confirmed the quantity as 408 kilograms.
The United States targeted Iran’s nuclear installations at Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan. Grossi confirmed that the Fordow nuclear facility was no longer operational due to the extent of the damage. He described the impact of the US strikes as significant but rejected former US President Donald Trump’s claim that the facilities had been completely destroyed. He said that the operational capacity of the facilities had been reduced, but it remained difficult to fully assess the damage through satellite imagery alone.
The IAEA has formally requested Iran to allow further inspections of its nuclear facilities to gain a clearer understanding of the current state of its nuclear programme.
