U.N. Nuclear Watchdog Estimates Most of Iran’s Uranium Is Intact
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Saturday that his agency estimated that “the majority” of Iran’s stockpile of weapons-grade uranium had survived Israeli and US bombings in June.
Magnified said In an interview with a Swiss newspaper, the IAEA estimates that most of the uranium is still stored in Iran’s three main nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Fordow and Natanz. All three facilities were affected by devastating airstrikes United States in June.
The latest IAEA report estimates that Iran has around 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity, which is far beyond any imaginable civilian use, but just below weapons-grade material. The IAEA has been holding Iran to account since the June airstrikes, but the Iranians have not been very cooperative.
“Will we have access to this uranium? And what will happen then? Will Iran want to keep it, will it reduce its enrichment levels again, or will Iran move this uranium abroad? There are many options,” Grossi said Friday.
Iranian officials, including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, said that while the US strikes inflicted serious damage on Isfahan, Fordow and Natanz, most of the uranium already enriched by Iran survived the strikes and is buried in the rubble of the facilities.
The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) reported Last week, satellite images suggested that Iran was beginning to dig the tunnels leading to the buried complex in Isfahan.
“However, the visible activity does not indicate a desire to remove possible stockpiles of enriched or centrifuged uranium inside the tunnel complex; rather, it indicates preparation for controlled and secure access to two of the three tunnel entrances, and the strengthening of entrances and utilities against future strikes,” ISIS said.
Andrea Striker, non-proliferation expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) said Grossi’s comments echo findings by the U.S. and Israeli governments that Iran’s uranium stockpiles are intact, but most of it is buried in the rubble of destroyed facilities, and Iran’s ability to process the 60 percent of uranium into weapons-grade materials has been destroyed for now.
“If it tried to recover and relocate the stockpiles, Tehran would be betting on the ability of these two countries to act militarily to stop the regime,” Stricker said.
Ali Larijani, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said On Monday, Iran canceled its inspection agreement with the IAEA, ending the last vestiges of its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.
Larijani said Iran was making good on its threat to stop working with the IAEA if European signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the JCPOA, invoked “blowback” sanctions against Iran.
The so-called E3 nations – France, Germany and the United Kingdom – initiated the process of returning sanctions in August, on the grounds that Iran was not complying with its obligations under the JCPOA. The Trump administration applauded the move, saying it was high time the E3 aligned itself with the U.S. assessment that Iran was cheating on the deal.
The UN Security Council (UNSC) imposed relaunch sanctions in September. Enraged Iranian officials required the rest of the world ignores sanctions to continue doing business with Tehran. So far, only China and Russia have supported Iran.
“Our foreign minister announced after the Cairo meeting that if the trigger mechanism was activated, the negotiations would be considered null and void,” Larijani said on Monday, referring to a meeting between Iranian officials and IAEA representatives in Cairo last month.
“If the agency has a request in this regard, it should submit it to the secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council so that it can be considered,” he sniffed.
Larijani said that Tehran believes that “the application of the trigger mechanism was a reprehensible act on the part of Europe that has no basis, and that in fact, the Europeans abused the trigger mechanism, while the Iranians fulfilled all the conditions over the last 10 years.”
