CNN
–
The head of the UN nuclear watchdog said the US strike against Iran did not result in complete damage to the nuclear program, claiming that Tehran could resume rich uranium “in a few months” and that President Donald Trump has traveled decades back to the US Tehran’s ambitions.
Rafael Grossi’s comments appear to support an early assessment from the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency, first reported by CNN, suggesting that last week’s US strike at major Iranian nuclear sites did not destroy core elements of the nuclear program.
Although the final military and intelligence report assessments have yet to come, Trump has repeatedly claimed that he has “completely and completely wiped out” Tehran’s nuclear program.
The 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran began earlier this month when Israel launched an unprecedented attack aimed at preventing the development of nuclear bombs. Iran claims that the nuclear program is a peaceful purpose.
The United States then struck three important Iranian nuclear sites before the ceasefire began. The extent of damage to Tehran’s nuclear program has been heavily debated ever since.
US military authorities have recently provided some new information on their strike programmes, but have not provided new evidence of their effectiveness against Iran’s nuclear programme.
Following this week’s classified briefing, Republican lawmakers acknowledged that the US strike may not rule out all of Iran’s nuclear material, but argued that this is not part of the military mission.
Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), when asked about the various assessments, said he “faces the people with Margaret Brennan.” “This hourglass approach in weapons of mass destruction is not a good idea.”
“The ability they have is there. They can have a few cascades of centrifuges that spin and produce concentrated uranium in a few months. But frankly, as I said, he can’t argue that everything won’t go away and there’s nothing there,” he told Brennan.
“It’s obviously serious damage, but it’s not total damage,” Grossi said. “Iran has the capacity, industrial and technical capabilities. So, if they want, they can start this again.”
Grossi also told CBS News that the IAEA resisted the pressure to say whether Iran has nuclear weapons or has weapons before the strike.
“We didn’t see a program that was aiming that direction (of nuclear weapons), but at the same time they didn’t answer any very important pending questions.”
CNN asked the White House to comment on Grossi’s claims.
Grossi emphasized the need for the IAEA to be granted access to Iran to assess nuclear activity. He said Iran had been disclosing information to the agency until the recent Israeli and US strikes, but “there were some things they didn’t make clear to us.”
“In this sensitive area of the number of centrifuges and the amount of material, we had the perfect view,” he said. “What I was worried about was that there were other things that were not obvious. For example, we found traces of uranium in some parts of Iran. It was not a normally declared facility, and we had been seeking it for years.
In the initial pentagonal evaluation, Tehran may have left the site some of the enriched uranium before being attacked, but Trump insisted that nothing was going.
“When they announce that they are about to take protective measures, it’s logical to assume that this could be a part of it (transfer of material).
Meanwhile, Tehran has moved towards withdrawing from international surveillance over its nuclear program.
Iran’s parliament has suspended the bill with the UN nuclear watchdog group, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araguchi also said signatories could reconsider membership in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which bans the development of nuclear weapons.