Iran could produce enriched uranium in a 'matter of months', says UN nuclear watchdog chief
The UN nuclear watchdog chief's estimate contradicts US President Donald Trump's claim that Iran's nuclear programme had been set back by "decades".
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The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said that while Iranian nuclear facilities have "been very seriously damaged", Iran could have "in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that."
He added: "Frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared and there is nothing there."
Rafael Grossi said it was possible that some of Iran's stored enriched uranium may have been moved prior to the attacks, while some may have been destroyed during. He admitted to CBS News that the IAEA is unsure where the material could be.
US President Donald Trump said at a Nato summit in The Hague on Tuesday that it would not have been possible for Iran to move the enriched uranium prior to the strikes. He said: “We think we hit them so hard so fast they didn’t get a chance to move."
Mr Grossi said that the three nuclear facilities hit by US airstrikes, Fordo, Natanz, Isfahan, "have been destroyed to an important degree" and that there had been a "setback" in Iran's nuclear capabilities.
The extent of the damage done to Iranian nuclear facilities by US strikes last weekend is still unclear.
Mr Grossi said the UN's nuclear watchdog will return to the sites to "re-establish the knowledge of the activities that take place there."
Israel launched attacks on Iranian nuclear and military sites on June 13, saying the attacks aimed to keep Iran
Last weekend, the US carried out airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear bases, Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.