According to the UN nuclear chief, Iran may begin enriching uranium for bomb production within a few months.
Rafael Grossi says he hopes negotiations can still happen in the future, despite Iran cutting ties with the IAEA
Iran possesses the ability to resume uranium enrichment for potential bomb production within "a matter of months," according to the head of the UN's nuclear oversight body.
Rafael Grossi, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), stated that the recent US strikes on three Iranian locations had inflicted significant yet "not total" damage, countering Donald Trump's assertion that Iran's nuclear infrastructure was "completely destroyed."
"To be frank, one cannot assert that everything has vanished and that nothing remains," Grossi remarked on Saturday.
On June 13, Israel targeted nuclear and military installations in Iran, alleging that Iran was nearing the capability to develop a nuclear weapon.
The United States subsequently participated in the airstrikes, targeting three of Iran's nuclear sites: Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan.
Since that time, the actual level of destruction has remained uncertain.
On Saturday, Grossi informed CBS News, which is the BBC's media partner in the US, that Tehran might be able to have "in a matter of months... a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium."
He further stated that Iran still had the "industrial and technological capacities... so if they choose to, they will be able to resume this activity."
The IAEA is not the first organization to indicate that Iran's nuclear capabilities may still persist - earlier this week, a leaked initial Pentagon evaluation suggested that the US strikes likely only delayed the program by a few months.
It is conceivable that upcoming intelligence reports may provide additional details indicating a varying extent of damage to the facilities.
Trump responded angrily, asserting that Iran's nuclear sites were "entirely obliterated" and blamed the media for "trying to belittle one of the most effective military operations in history".
Currently, Iran and Israel have reached a ceasefire agreement.
However, Trump has stated he would "definitely" contemplate bombing Iran again if intelligence revealed that it could enrich uranium to alarming levels.
Iran, on the other hand, has sent conflicting messages on how much damage was caused.
In a speech on Thursday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the strikes had achieved nothing significant. Its foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, however, said "excessive and serious" damage was done.
Iran's already-strained relationship with the IAEA was further challenged on Wednesday, when its parliament moved to suspend cooperation with the atomic watchdog, accusing the IAEA of siding with Israel and the US.
On Friday, Araghchi said on X that "Grossi's insistence on visiting the bombed sites under the pretext of safeguards is meaningless and possibly even malign in intent".
Israel and the US attacked Iran after the IAEA last month found Tehran to be in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in 20 years.
Iran insists that its nuclear programme is peaceful, and for civilian use only.
Despite the Iranian refusal to work with his organisation, Grossi said that he hoped he could still negotiate with Tehran.
"I have to sit down with Iran and look into this, because 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," he said.
Under a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Iran was not permitted to enrich uranium above 3.67% purity - the level required for fuel for commercial nuclear power plants - and was not allowed to carry out any enrichment at its Fordo plant for 15 years.
However, Trump abandoned the agreement during his first term in 2018, saying it did too little to stop a pathway to a bomb, and reinstated US sanctions.
Iran retaliated by increasingly breaching the restrictions - particularly those relating to enrichment. It resumed enrichment at Fordo in 2021 and had amassed enough 60%-enriched uranium to potentially make nine nuclear bombs, according to the IAEA.
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