Washington, DC (EFE).- The head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, said Sunday that Iran could resume uranium enrichment within months, contradicting United States assessments following airstrikes on major Iranian nuclear facilities.
“Iran has the capacities there; industrial and technological capacities. So if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again,” said Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in an interview with CBS News.
“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 that Iran’s nuclear sites suffered “severe damage,” but one cannot claim that “everything has disappeared and there is nothing there.”
On Jun. 22, the US joined Israel in attacking key Iranian nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Natanz, and Fordow.
Although United States President Donald Trump declared the mission a success, a leaked US intelligence report suggested the attacks only delayed Iran’s nuclear program by a few months.
Grossi cautioned that the full extent of the damage would only become clear once Iranian authorities assess the affected sites.
“At some point, the IAEA will have to return,” Grossi said. “Although our job is not to assess damage, but to re-establish the knowledge of the activities that take place there, and the access to the material (…) if they continue with this activity.”
“We need to be in a position to ascertain, to confirm what is there, and where is it and what happened. Iran is a very sophisticated country in terms of nuclear technology,” he said.
On Thursday, Iran’s Guardian Council approved a plan to suspend cooperation with the IAEA. The measure requires only the president’s signature to take effect.
“I hope this is not the case,” Grossi said, urging for inspections to resume “as soon as possible.”
“At the end of the day, this whole thing, after the military strikes, will have to have a long lasting solution, which cannot be but a diplomatic one.”
Grossi also clarified that the IAEA does not judge whether Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons.
“We didn’t see a program that was aiming in that direction, but at the same time, they were not answering very, very important questions that were pending.” EFEmgr/bks/seo