It could only be a matter of months until Iran starts producing enriched uranium again, the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog has warned.
Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told CBS News that the three Iranian nuclear sites the US bombed on June 21 had sustained a “very serious level of damage”.
But he said Iran could quickly resume uranium-enrichment capabilities. “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,” he said in an interview recorded on Friday and broadcast on Sunday. “Frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared and there is nothing there.”
US President Donald Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth have repeatedly claimed the nuclear sites were “obliterated” and have reacted with fury when challenged on this assessment. The US bombed the three nuclear sites – Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan – last weekend, joining Israel's air war against Iran, which lasted 12 days.
Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only. Western powers stress that Iran's nuclear advances provide it with an irreversible knowledge gain, suggesting that while losing experts or facilities may slow progress, the advances are permanent.
“Iran is a very sophisticated country in terms of nuclear technology,” Mr Grossi told CBS. “So you cannot disinvent this. You cannot undo the knowledge that you have or the capacities that you have.”
Mr Grossi said that Iran might have moved some of its highly enriched uranium in the run-up to the US attacks.
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Champions League Last 16
Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) v Bayern Munich (GER)
Sporting Lisbon (POR) v Manchester City (ENG)
Benfica (POR) v Ajax (NED)
Chelsea (ENG) v Lille (FRA)
Atletico Madrid (ESP) v Manchester United (ENG)
Villarreal (ESP) v Juventus (ITA)
Inter Milan (ITA) v Liverpool (ENG)
Paris Saint-Germain v Real Madrid (ESP)
Dubai World Cup nominations
UAE: Thunder Snow/Saeed bin Suroor (trainer), North America/Satish Seemar, Drafted/Doug Watson, New Trails/Ahmad bin Harmash, Capezzano, Gronkowski, Axelrod, all trained by Salem bin Ghadayer
USA: Seeking The Soul/Dallas Stewart, Imperial Hunt/Luis Carvajal Jr, Audible/Todd Pletcher, Roy H/Peter Miller, Yoshida/William Mott, Promises Fulfilled/Dale Romans, Gunnevera/Antonio Sano, XY Jet/Jorge Navarro, Pavel/Doug O’Neill, Switzerland/Steve Asmussen.
Japan: Matera Sky/Hideyuki Mori, KT Brace/Haruki Sugiyama. Bahrain: Nine Below Zero/Fawzi Nass. Ireland: Tato Key/David Marnane. Hong Kong: Fight Hero/Me Tsui. South Korea: Dolkong/Simon Foster.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
'My Son'
Director: Christian Carion
Starring: James McAvoy, Claire Foy, Tom Cullen, Gary Lewis
Rating: 2/5
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
