Iran Could Again Enrich Uranium 'in Matter of Months', Says IAEA Chief
UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi says Iran likely will be able to begin to produce enriched uranium "in a matter of months," despite damage to several nuclear facilities from US and Israeli attacks, CBS News said Saturday.
Israel launched a bombing campaign on Iranian nuclear and military sites on June 13, saying it was aimed at keeping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon -- an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.
The United States subsequently bombed three key facilities used for Tehran's atomic program.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the extent of the damage to the nuclear sites is "serious," but the details are unknown. US President Donald Trump insisted Iran's nuclear program had been set back "decades."
But Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said "some is still standing."
"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," Grossi said Friday, according to a transcript of the interview released Saturday.
Another key question is whether Iran was able to relocate some or all of its estimated 408.6-kilo (900-pound) stockpile of highly enriched uranium before the attacks.
The uranium in question is enriched to 60 percent -- above levels for civilian usage but still below weapons grade. That material, if further refined, would theoretically be sufficient to produce more than nine nuclear bombs.
Grossi admitted to CBS: "We don't know where this material could be."
"So some could have been destroyed as part of the attack, but some could have been moved. So there has to be at some point a clarification," he said in the interview.
For now, Iranian lawmakers voted to suspend cooperation with the IAEA and Tehran rejected Grossi's request for a visit to the damaged sites, especially Fordo, the main uranium enrichment facility.
"We need to be in a position to ascertain, to confirm what is there, and where is it and what happened," Grossi said.
In a separate interview with Fox News's "Sunday Morning Futures" program, Trump said he did not think the stockpile had been moved.
"It's a very hard thing to do plus we didn't give much notice," he said, according to excerpts of the interview. "They didn't move anything."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday underscored Washington's support for "the IAEA's critical verification and monitoring efforts in Iran," commending Grossi and his agency for their "dedication and professionalism."
The full Grossi interview will air on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Sunday.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
23 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
Netanyahu ‘must go,' former Israeli PM Naftali Bennett says
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must leave office, his predecessor Naftali Bennett has told a televised interview, refusing to say whether he intends to challenge the country's longest-serving leader in an election. In an interview with Israel's Channel 12 that aired on Saturday, former prime minister Bennett said Netanyahu 'has been in power for 20 years... that's too much, it's not healthy.' 'He bears... heavy responsibility for the divisions in Israeli society,' Bennett said of growing rifts within Israel under Netanyahu, who has a strong support base but also staunch opponents who have demanded his departure including over his handling of the Gaza war since October 2023. Netanyahu 'must go,' said the former prime minister, a right-wing leader who in 2021 joined forces with Netanyahu critics to form a coalition that ousted him from the premiership after 12 consecutive years at the helm. But the fragile coalition government Bennett had led along with current opposition chief Yair Lapid collapsed after about a year. Snap elections ensued, and Netanyahu again assumed the premiership with backing from far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties. Bennett, who has taken time off from politics, has been rumored to be planning a comeback, with public opinion polls suggesting he may have enough support to oust Netanyahu again. No vote is currently planned before late 2026, however, although early elections are common in Israel. In his Saturday interview, Bennett claimed credit for laying the groundwork for Israel's bombardment campaign earlier this month against Iranian nuclear and military sites. The decision to launch attacks against the Islamic Republic 'was very good' and 'needed,' said Bennett, claiming that the offensive would not have been possible without the work of his short-lived government. In Gaza, where Israel has waged war since Hamas's October 2023 attack, Bennett said the military has displayed 'exceptional' performance but 'the political management of the country' was 'a catastrophe, a disaster.' Criticizing the Netanyahu government's 'inability to decide,' the former prime minister called for an immediate "comprehensive' agreement that would see all remaining hostages freed from Gaza. 'Leave the task of eliminating Hamas to a future government,' said Bennett, who also evaded several questions about whether he intends to run for office.
Al Arabiya
36 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
Trump: Make the deal in Gaza
US President Donald Trump on Sunday pleaded for progress in ceasefire talks in the war in Gaza, calling for a deal that would halt the fighting in the 20-month-long conflict as the sides appeared to be inching closer to an agreement. An Israeli official said plans were being made for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to travel to Washington, D.C., in the coming weeks – a sign there may be movement on a new deal. The official declined to discuss the focus of the visit and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss plans that had not yet been finalized. 'Make the deal in Gaza. Get the hostages back!' Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social early Sunday between posts about a Senate vote on his tax and spending cuts bill. Trump raised expectations Friday for a deal, saying there could be a ceasefire agreement within the next week. Taking questions from reporters, he said, 'We're working on Gaza and trying to get it taken care of.' Trump has repeatedly called for Israel and Hamas to end the war in Gaza. Despite an eight-week ceasefire reached just as Trump was taking office earlier this year, attempts since then to bring the sides toward a new agreement have failed. A top adviser to Netanyahu, Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, was set to travel to Washington this week for talks on a ceasefire. The Gaza message wasn't the only Middle East–related post by Trump. On Saturday evening, he doubled down on his criticism of the legal proceedings against Netanyahu, who is on trial for alleged corruption, calling it a 'political witch hunt very similar to the Witch Hunt that I was forced to endure.' In the post on Truth Social, he said the trial interfered with talks on a Gaza ceasefire. '(Netanyahu) is right now in the process of negotiating a deal with Hamas, which will include getting the hostages back. How is it possible that the Prime Minister of Israel can be forced to sit in a courtroom all day long over nothing?' Trump wrote. The post echoed similar remarks Trump made last week when he called for the trial to be canceled. It was a dramatic interference by an international ally in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state. And it unnerved many in Israel, despite Trump's popularity in the country. The Israeli military on Sunday ordered a mass evacuation of Palestinians in large swaths of northern Gaza, an early target of the war that has been severely damaged by multiple rounds of fighting. Avichay Adraee, a military spokesperson, posted the order on social media. It includes multiple neighborhoods in eastern and northern Gaza City, as well as Jabaliya refugee camp. 'The military will expand its escalating attacks to the city's northern section, calling for people to move southward to the Muwasi area in southern Gaza,' Adraee said. After being all but emptied earlier in the war, hundreds of thousands of people are in northern Gaza following their return during a ceasefire earlier this year. An Israeli military offensive currently underway aims to move Palestinians to southern Gaza so forces can more freely operate to combat militants. Rights groups say their movement would amount to forcible transfer. The war in Gaza began with Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas in which militants killed 1,200 people and took roughly 250 hostage, about 50 of whom remain captive, with less than half believed to be alive. Israel's retaliatory response has killed more than 56,000 people, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish between militants and civilians in their count but say more than half of the dead are women and children. The war has set off a humanitarian catastrophe, displaced most of Gaza's population, often multiple times, and obliterated much of the territory's urban landscape. Talks between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly faltered over one major sticking point – whether the war should end as part of any ceasefire agreement. Hamas says it is willing to free all the hostages in exchange for a full withdrawal of Israeli troops and an end to the war. Israel rejects that offer, saying it will agree to end the war if Hamas disarms and goes into exile – something the group refuses.
Al Arabiya
36 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
Germany backs Israel after Iran war in first high-level visit
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt expressed support for Israel on Sunday during a visit to the site of an Iranian missile strike near Tel Aviv, part of the destruction left by this month's 12-day war. It was the first visit by a senior foreign official since the war between Iran and Israel, which ended on Tuesday after a ceasefire was announced. 'We must deepen our support for Israel,' Dobrindt said, speaking amid the rubble in Bat Yam, south of the coastal hub of Tel Aviv, where an Iranian strike killed nine people including three children. Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran on June 13, saying it was aimed at keeping the Islamic republic from developing a nuclear weapon -- an ambition Tehran has consistently denied. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the German visit a gesture of 'solidarity' and urged the international community to reimpose sanctions on Iran. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on June 17, on the sidelines of a G7 summit in Canada, said Israel was doing the 'dirty work... for all of us' by targeting Iran's nuclear infrastructure. Israel has acknowledged being hit by more than 50 missiles during the 12-day war with Iran, resulting in 28 deaths, but the true extent of the damage may never be known due to stringent media restrictions. In Iran, Israeli strikes killed at least 627 civilians and injured nearly 4,900, according to official figures.
