Centrifuges at Fordo ‘no longer operational,' UN nuclear watchdog head says

Boston Globe

4 hours ago

He said, however, that it would be 'too much' to assert that Iran's nuclear program had been 'wiped out' after the Israeli and American bombing campaign. Grossi noted that not all of Iran's nuclear sites had been struck and said Iranian officials had told him that they would take 'protective measures' for the uranium they had already enriched.
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Still, he said, the nuclear program has definitely suffered 'enormous damage.'
He declined to say how far Iran's nuclear program had been set back.
'Perhaps decades, depending on the type of activity or objective,' Grossi said, echoing comments made by President Trump this week at a NATO summit in the Netherlands.
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'It's true that with these reduced capacities,' he added, 'it will be much more difficult for Iran to continue at the same pace as before.'
The comments from Grossi, director-general of the atomic agency, came amid questions over the effectiveness of the US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites.
Trump has insisted that the bombing 'obliterated' the Fordo site, a position that some in his administration have
On Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and General Dan Caine, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave more details about the planning and execution of the strikes. But they offered no new assessments of the damage inflicted on the sites or on the state of Iran's nuclear program.
One of the main purposes of the UN watchdog is to monitor nuclear activity in Iran and other countries, including those who have signed on to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. But the agency's relations with Iran were at a low point even before Israel attacked the country June 13.
UN inspectors remained in Iran throughout the war but were not able to gain access to the nuclear sites amid the fighting. And it was not clear when or even if they would be allowed to do so again now that a cease-fire has taken hold.
On Thursday, Iran's Guardian Council, which has veto power over legislation in the country, approved a bill passed by parliament that suspends cooperation with the UN watchdog and bars its inspectors from the country.
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But the fate of the new law — which would effectively block the international community from having oversight of Iran's nuclear program — was still unclear.
The decision to enact it lies with Iran's moderate president, Masoud Pezeshkian, who was elected on campaign promises to engage with the West and who has publicly signaled his willingness to return to the negotiating table.
As a signatory of the nonproliferation treaty, Iran is 'required to have an inspection system,' Grossi noted in the interview. He urged Iranian authorities not to 'unilaterally' reject inspections 'because otherwise we'd be on the brink of another major crisis.'
Grossi, who said Iran's cooperation with the UN watchdog before the war was 'limited,' said that he had reached out to Iran's foreign minister to discuss a potential return of agency inspectors to Iranian nuclear sites but had yet to receive a response.
This article originally appeared in
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