Macron: Trump bombings have increased risk of secret uranium enrichment
Emmanuel Macron has warned of an 'increased' risk that Iran could try to enrich uranium secretly following US and Israeli strikes on its nuclear sites.
Israel had been bombing Iran in an offensive that began on June 13, and the United States joined the attack by striking the deeply buried Fordow complex and two other sites.
Donald Trump insisted that the US bombing mission was a success, but questions remain over the true extent of the damage to Iran's nuclear programme.
During a trip to Norway, the French president said: 'This risk has indeed increased with what has happened recently.
'It is one of the main risks for the region and the international community... We must absolutely prevent Iran from going down this path.'
Mr Macron's comments came after claims by an expert on Iran's nuclear programme that the regime has built hidden sites housing 'hundreds if not thousands' of advanced centrifuges capable of producing weapons-grade uranium.
The regime also moved much of its highly enriched uranium to a secret location before the US was able to bomb the Islamic Republic's three known nuclear facilities, the expert added.
It means that Tehran could still have all the capabilities to build a nuclear bomb, said Sima Shine, an expert on Iran's nuclear programme who has worked within the Israeli military establishment for more than 30 years.
She said: 'I'm sure they have a hidden place somewhere with some hundreds, if not thousands of centrifuge[s] and they have material all there in several places all over Iran.'
'They cannot do anything now, tomorrow – but in the future, they have all the capabilities [to build a bomb],' the former research director at Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, added.
'The [known] sites in themselves, for the time being, are not a lot of threat,' she said. 'The problem is, as you know, the material and the advanced centrifuges that I'm sure they have somewhere.'
The International Atomic Energy Agency estimates that Iran has 400kg (880lb) of uranium concentrated to 60 per cent purity, which would be enough for nine to 10 nuclear bombs if the material were to be enriched to weapons grade, generally said to be 90 per cent.
It is not known what has become of this material, but there is widespread speculation that it was moved ahead of the American air strikes. Satellite images showed a convoy of trucks at the Fordow facility days before.
During his speech, Mr Macron also said that the situation surrounding the Israel-Iran conflict remained 'unstable' despite Donald Trump's ceasefire declaration and Iran's reaction that it would respect it if Israel did.
He said: 'The situation clearly remains volatile and unstable. I think it's a very good thing that President Trump is calling for a ceasefire.'
Noting reports of missiles having been fired after the ceasefire announcement, the French president said that 'the last few minutes have shown that the situation remains very fragile'.
On Monday, the he dubbed the airstrikes 'illegal'.
Mr Macron said of the US attacks: 'It may be considered legitimate... to neutralise nuclear facilities in Iran, given our objectives.
'However, there is no legal framework, no. And so we must say it as it is: there is no legality to these strikes.'
He added: 'Even though France shares the objective of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, we have consistently believed from the outset that this can only be achieved through diplomatic and technical means.
'I say this because I hear many commentators who basically accuse you of inefficiency when you defend the diplomatic route on these issues. But when you are consistent, you can claim to be effective.'
The comments were at odds with both Germany and Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary general, who said that pre-emptive US air strikes on Iran were not illegal.
Sir Keir Starmer and a succession of ministers declined to explicitly state that the US president had acted within international law or in a correct manner.
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