Iran says US strikes on nuclear sites complicate talks - Region

Al-Ahram Weekly

2 days ago

Iran's top diplomat has said prospects for renewed nuclear negotiations with the United States have been 'complicated' by Washington's bombing of three nuclear sites, which he conceded caused 'serious damage'.
Foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking on Iranian state television late on Thursday, confirmed that no agreement had been reached on restarting talks. 'No time has been set, no promise has been made, and we haven't even talked about restarting the talks,' he said.
'The American decision to intervene militarily made it more complicated and more difficult,' he added.
The US was a signatory to the 2015 nuclear agreement under which Iran accepted limits on its uranium enrichment programme in exchange for sanctions relief. That deal collapsed after Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from it during his presidency.
President Trump has since suggested interest in fresh negotiations and claimed the two sides would meet next week.
On 13 June, Israel launched attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, air defences, military leadership, scientists and residential areas. The war, lasting 12 days, targeted eight nuclear-related sites and more than 720 military positions, according to Israeli authorities, who claimed to have killed around 30 commanders.
Many of the strikes hit residential areas in Tehran, killing scores of family members and other civilians. Human Rights Activists, a Washington-based group, said more than 1,000 people had been killed, including at least 417 civilians. According to official figures, at least 610 civilians have been killed by the Israeli attacks.
Iran responded by firing over 550 ballistic missiles at Israel. Most were intercepted, but those that struck killed 28 people and caused widespread damage.
On Sunday, the US launched a wave of cruise missiles and bunker-buster bombs targeting three key Iranian nuclear sites. The Pentagon said B-2 bombers were used to hit fortified underground facilities. In response, Iran fired missiles at a US base in Qatar on Monday, though there were no reported casualties.
Although Trump has claimed the US strikes 'completely and fully obliterated' Iran's nuclear programme, insisting it has been set back by decades, the extent of the damage cannot be confirmed with certainty until the sites are independently examined
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dismissed the assertion, saying the attacks did not 'achieve anything significant'.
However, according to statements carried by AP, citing Iranian state media, Araghchi acknowledged that 'the level of damage is high, and it's serious damage.'
Iran is believed to have moved a portion of its highly enriched uranium stockpile ahead of the strikes, something it told the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it planned to do.
Still, Rafael Grossi, the IAEA director general, told Radio France International that damage to the Fordo site—located deep in a mountain—was 'very, very, very considerable'.
He said the site's centrifuges, 'quite precise machines', would likely have suffered 'important physical damage' from multiple 30,000-pound bombs. 'These centrifuges are no longer operational,' he said.
Grossi has faced criticism for issuing contradictory statements that paved the way for US and Israeli attacks on the country.
Araghchi said Iran had yet to decide whether to allow IAEA inspectors to assess the damage. 'They will be kept out for the time being,' he said.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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