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Business Standard
6 days ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
Status of Iran's near-bomb grade Uranium stock looms over IAEA meet
The International Atomic Energy Agency's board meets Monday in Vienna, just days after a divisive vote that found Iran in non-compliance with its legal obligations Bloomberg The United Nations atomic watchdog is convening an emergency meeting to assess Israel's attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, along with their disruption on oversight of the Islamic Republic's stockpile of near-bomb grade uranium. The International Atomic Energy Agency's board meets Monday in Vienna, just days after a divisive vote that found Iran in non-compliance with its legal obligations. Less than 24 hours after the resolution passed, Israel began bombing the Persian Gulf nation's nuclear sites, assassinating scientists linked to the program and striking residential areas of its capital city, Tehran. Iran's 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of highly-enriched uranium could fit in three or four easily-concealed cylinders, according to Robert Kelley, a nuclear-weapons engineer and former IAEA inspector. Even if Israel destroys Iran's enrichment infrastructure, the location of that material will still need to be verified. The IAEA's sudden inability to fully account for Iran's nuclear stockpile has added an additional layer of complexity to the conflict. Now, 'Iran has every incentive to breakout and perhaps the time to produce the material it needs,' wrote Richard Nephew, who helped negotiate the 2015 nuclear deal that capped Iranian enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief. 'If you don't solve for that, I don't know what you're doing,' he wrote on X.
Straits Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Critical damage dealt to key Iranian nuclear site, says UN atomic watchdog
Israeli strikes to destroy Iran's primary enrichment facility in Natanz have been limited to surface structures. PHOTO: AFP TEHRAN – Israeli air strikes dealt critical damage to a key Iranian nuclear facility during weekend air strikes, according to the United Nations atomic watchdog, likely setting back the Islamic Republic's uranium fuel cycle by months. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that multiple Israeli strikes against Iran's uranium-conversion facility at Isfahan, 400km south of Tehran, resulted in serious damage. Successfully knocking out Isfahan would be significant because it is the only location for converting uranium into the feedstock used by centrifuges that, in turn, separate the uranium isotopes needed for nuclear power or bombs. The IAEA reported late on June 13 that Israel had so far failed to damage Iran's Fordow enrichment complex, which is buried some 500m inside a mountain. Similarly, efforts to destroy Iran's primary enrichment facility in Natanz have been limited to surface structures, with no detected breaches to the heavily fortified underground enrichment halls. Diplomats will convene in Vienna on June 16 for an emergency session of the IAEA's board of governors. They are expected to discuss Israel's ongoing efforts to destroy Iran's nuclear infrastructure, as well the interruption to the IAEA's ability to verify the country's stockpile of near-bomb grade uranium. Even without destroying Iran's ability to enrich, Israel's campaign has had some measured success after three days of bombing, according to experts. Without Isfahan's capacity to convert new volumes of raw uranium, Iran's ability to make additional quantities of enriched product would be frozen. And while Iran has ample stockpiles of existing material, its ability to scale up would be limited. 'If you interrupt that piece of the flow-sheet, the fuel cycle doesn't work anymore,' said Mr Robert Kelley, a US nuclear engineer who led inspections for the IAEA in Iraq and Libya. 'The front end of their programme dies.' Converting raw uranium involves mixing the ore with fluorine, creating a highly corrosive feedstock. Highly specialised machines are needed to run the process. Unless Iran has spare gear in stock, it may take significant time for Tehran to reboot its uranium fuel cycle, Mr Kelley said. Deeper underground The risk for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is that extending the military campaign could drive the Islamic Republic's nuclear activities deeper underground, ending access to UN-backed inspectors and potentially hardening Tehran's resolve. Iran responded to the attacks by targeting Israeli cities with hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones from late on June 13. Israel's leaders will sift through the damage reports in the coming days and decide whether to press ahead with the strikes. The campaign, a long-promised fulfillment of Mr Netanyahu's promise to target the nuclear programme, also killed nine leading scientists whose expertise was crucial for Iran's nuclear ambitions. 'There's obviously not yet a full assessment,' said Ms Suzanne Maloney, a vice-president at the Washington-based Brookings Institution. But the combination of strikes and the killing of key security and nuclear personnel is 'going to make it very difficult for Iran to reconstitute the programme to the level that it was at prior to these attacks,' she said. Experts said the air strikes will make it tougher to monitor Iran's atomic activities, given that UN inspectors probably won't be given access to sites for a long time. The attack is also unlikely to end Tehran's nuclear programme even if progress is slowed, said Ms Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association. 'There's a real risk that Iran may divert uranium, enriched to near-weapons grade levels, to a covert location, or that due to the damage, the IAEA may not be able to account for all of Iran's nuclear materials,' Ms Davenport said. Iran's 400kg of highly enriched uranium could fit in three or four easily-concealed cylinders, said Mr Kelley, the nuclear-weapons engineer. Concern has mounted that Iran could use the material as the feedstock for a weapon, should it follow through with threats to opt out of the UN's Non-Proliferation Treaty – a key global initiative to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons – and kick out inspectors. BLOOMBERG Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Mint
15-06-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Israel-Iran war: IAEA confirms critical damage to Iran's nuclear sites — Here's list of 8 past attacks on nuclear bases
With the tensions between Iran and Israel escalating in past couple of days, Israeli airstrikes dealt critical damage to a key Iranian nuclear facility and may have set back the Islamic Republic's uranium fuel cycle by months, Bloomberg reported International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as saying. According to the IAEA, multiple Israeli strikes against Iran's uranium-conversion facility at Isfahan, which is 400 km south of Tehran. The attack resulted in serious damage in Isfahan. The IAEA noted that the attacks on Isfahan would have significant impact, citing it is the only location for converting uranium into the feedstock used by centrifuges that separate the uranium isotopes needed for nuclear power or bombs. Without converting the new volumes of raw uranium, Iran's ability to produce additional quantities of enriched product would be frozen, the IAEA said. Despite Iran having ample stockpiles of existing material, the Gulf country's ability to scale up uranium-based nuclear missiles would be limited. 'If you interrupt that piece of the flow-sheet, the fuel cycle doesn't work anymore,' Bloomberg quoted Robert Kelley, a US nuclear engineer who led inspections for the IAEA in Iraq and Libya, as saying. 'The front end of their program dies.' However, it is not the first time that Iran's nuclear bases have been attacked. 2007 – Suspicious death of nuclear scientist Ardeshir Hosseinpour. 2010 — The Stuxnet computer virus, widely believed to be a joint U.S.-Israeli creation, disrupted and destroyed Iranian centrifuges. 2020 — After the disintegration of the 2015 nuclear deal, Israeli forces allegedly attacked against Iran's nuclear program to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons. November 2020 — Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a top Iranian military nuclear scientist, was killed by a remote-controlled machine gun while traveling in a car outside Tehran. That time too, Iran accused Israel. April 11, 2021 — An attack targeted Iran's underground nuclear facility in Natanz. Iran blamed Israel. February 14, 2024 — An Israeli sabotage attack caused multiple explosions on an Iranian natural gas pipeline, which runs from Iran's western Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province to cities on the Caspian Sea. June 13, 2025 — Israel launched blistering attacks on the heart of Iran's nuclear and military structure. It deployed warplanes and drones. June 14, 2025 — Israel expanded its airstrikes to include targets in Iran's energy industry as Iranian missile and drone attacks continue on Israel. 1967 — Iran takes possession of its Tehran Research Reactor under America's 'Atoms for Peace' program. August 2002 — an Iranian opposition group and western intelligence services revealed Iran's secret Natanz nuclear enrichment facility. June 2003 — Britain, France and Germany engaged Iran in nuclear negotiations. October 2003 — Iran suspended uranium enrichment. February 2006 — Following the election of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran announced it would restart uranium enrichment. Soon after this, Britain, France and Germany walk out of stalled negotiations. June 2009 — Despite fraud allegations, sparking Green Movement protests and violent government crackdown, Iran's disputed presidential election saw Ahmadinejad reelected October 2009 — Under President Barack Obama, the U.S. and Iran opened a secret backchannel for messages in the sultanate of Oman. July 14, 2015 — In exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions, Iran, along with other nations announced a long-term, comprehensive nuclear agreement that limits Tehran's enrichment of uranium. 2018 — Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel obtained tens of thousands of pages of data which showed Iran covered up its nuclear program before signing a deal in 2015. July 2020 — Iran accused Israel for a mysterious explosion which teared apart a centrifuge production plant at Iran's Natanz nuclear enrichment facility. April 16, 2021 — Iran began enriching uranium up to 60%, which is its highest purity ever and a technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%. June 2022 — Iran accused Israel of poisoning two nuclear scientists in different cities within three days of each other, though circumstances remain unclear. October 7, 2023 — Iran offered support to the Hamas militants after Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip storm into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage. April 1, 2024 — An Israeli airstrike demolished Iran's Consulate in Syria's Damascus, killing 16 people, including two Iranian generals. April 14, 2024 — Iran launched an unprecedented missile and drone attack on Israel, firing over 300 missiles and attack drones in response to the Israeli airstrike in Damascus. Oct. 26, 2024 — Israel openly attacked Iran for the first time, striking air defense systems and sites associated with its missile program. June 15, 2025 — Israel unleashes airstrikes across Iran for a third day following some Iranian missiles evade Israeli air defenses to strike buildings in the heart of Israel.
