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The United Nations' apical atomic watchdog told CBS News that Iran could revive parts of its atomic program, though U.S. subject strikes person dented it — and said immoderate ngo to retrieve Iran's stockpiles of enriched uranium would beryllium highly difficult.
Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, spoke with "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan connected Thursday, arsenic the U.S. and Israel's warfare with Iran nears the three-week mark. President Trump has pointed to Iran's atomic programme arsenic 1 catalyst for the war, accusing Iran of harboring ambitions to physique atomic weapons, which Iran denies.
Grossi spoke astir the apt authorities of Iran's atomic program, the imaginable of restarting it and whether a woody to curb the programme was imaginable earlier the war.
Here are the biggest takeaways:
After warfare ends, "we volition inactive inherit a fig of large issues"
Grossi said U.S. subject enactment has degraded Iran's atomic programme — but parts of the programme person survived, and Iran inactive has the method know-how to enrich uranium.
Last June's U.S. bombing run against 3 Iranian atomic facilities — the Fordo and Natanz enrichment sites and the Isfahan probe tract — was "quite effective," Grossi said. Some strikes have besides been reported connected atomic facilities successful the existent subject operation, though Grossi said they person been "relatively marginal" considering the war's broader scope.
"One cannot contradict that this has truly rolled backmost the programme considerably," helium said. "But my content is that erstwhile the subject effort comes to an end, we volition inactive inherit a fig of large issues that person been astatine the halfway of each of this."
Those lingering issues see Iran's stockpile of 60%-enriched uranium, which is simply a abbreviated measurement distant from weapons-grade material, and immoderate facilities that person apt survived the U.S. bombing campaign, according to Grossi.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified to lawmakers this week that Iran did not effort to rebuild its uranium enrichment capabilities pursuing the June strikes. Grossi said the IAEA besides has not "seen activity" suggesting a rebuilding effort.
But "a batch inactive has survived," Grossi added. "They person the capabilities, they person the knowledge, they person the concern quality to bash that."
Military cognition to region highly enriched uranium would beryllium "very challenging"
Before past June's airstrikes, the IAEA assessed that Iran had enriched immoderate 972 pounds of uranium to 60% purity. According to the IAEA's metrics, astir 92.5 pounds is theoretically capable to physique a azygous atomic limb if enriched to 90%.
Much of that worldly is apt inactive buried underneath the rubble, Grossi noted.
Mr. Trump has not made up his mind connected whether to nonstop U.S. forces into Iran to prehend that worldly successful what would beryllium a unsafe operation, CBS News reported earlier this week. White House property caput Karoline Leavitt did not regularisation retired the idea, telling reporters a crushed cognition is "an enactment connected the array for him."
Grossi said recovering that worldly would beryllium tough.
"We're talking astir cylinders containing state of highly contaminated uranium hexafluoride astatine 60%, truthful it's precise hard to handle," helium said. "I'm not saying it's impossible. I cognize that present determination are unthinkable subject capacities to bash that, but it would beryllium [a] precise challenging cognition for sure."
Grossi noted that erstwhile the U.S. and Iran held indirect bid talks anterior to the war, negotiators discussed "downblending" Iran's highly enriched uranium to marque it easier to handle.
Iran tin rebuild centrifuges: "You cannot unlearn what you've learned"
Grossi said helium believes it would beryllium "very imaginable to reconstruct" Iran's enrichment program.
Even if airstrikes person destroyed galore of Iran's centrifuges, the cognition required to physique them cannot beryllium bombed away, Grossi noted.
"You cannot unlearn what you've learned," helium said.
Grossi described a centrifuge — which enriches uranium by spinning astatine precocious speeds to abstracted retired a fissile isotope of uranium called U-235 — arsenic a "sophisticated washing machine."
He added that the 2015 atomic woody betwixt the U.S. and Iran was predicated connected Iran having "very primitive" centrifuges, but since then, Iran has developed "the astir sophisticated, accelerated and businesslike instrumentality that exists, and they cognize however to marque them."
Was a atomic woody to avert warfare with Iran possible?
In the weeks starring up to the existent war, negotiators from the U.S. and Iran held respective rounds of indirect talks implicit Iran's atomic program. Hours earlier the U.S. and Israel's bombing run began successful precocious February, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, who mediated the negotiations, told CBS News that a "peace woody is wrong our reach."
Albusaidi described the wide contours of a imaginable U.S.-Iran deal, including an Iranian statement to "never, ever person … atomic worldly that volition make a bomb," and a program to blend down Iran's existing stockpiles of highly enriched uranium.
Grossi said a woody with Iran had not yet been reached, but "while there's a negotiation, there's ever a anticipation of an agreement." Prior to the commencement of hostilities, negotiators were acceptable to clasp method talks successful Vienna, location to the IAEA's headquarters, helium pointed out.
"We were having precise frank and precise heavy discussions. So 1 cannot contradict the nobility of the effort of idiosyncratic who's trying to forestall a war, and I applaud that arsenic a diplomat and arsenic a citizen," helium said. "But determination was nary statement astatine that point."
Was the Tehran Research Reactor a problem?
One evident stumbling artifact successful the U.S.-Iran negotiations was the Tehran Research Reactor, a 1960s-era atomic reactor that the U.S. supplied to Iran earlier the country's existent authorities roseate to powerfulness during the Islamic Revolution. The reactor — which tin nutrient nuclear worldly for aesculapian purposes — is powered by 20%-enriched uranium, which is simply a important measurement toward the 90%-enriched worldly utilized successful weapons.
But Mr. Trump had pushed for Iran to extremity each uranium enrichment, preventing it from making substance for the probe reactor. A 2015 atomic woody betwixt Iran, the U.S. and respective different large powers — which Mr. Trump withdrew from during his archetypal word — only allowed Iran to enrich uranium to 3.67%, though it said Iran can bargain fuel for the Tehran installation from overseas if needed.
After the warfare started, a elder Trump medication authoritative alleged to reporters that Iran was really stockpiling uranium astatine the probe reactor, calling claims that it was needed for aesculapian purposes a "false pretense." The authoritative said U.S. negotiators made that find with the assistance of the IAEA, which revealed that Iran had stored much substance astatine the installation than necessary.
Asked astir those allegations, Grossi said his relation is to supply method expertise, not to measurement successful connected whether Iran was honorable oregon dishonest. But helium said that "20% is simply a batch of enrichment."
Grossi noted that "we were successful the mediate of a dialog which was proceeding from the presumption that determination wouldn't beryllium immoderate enrichment," oregon "something very, precise limited."
"So … erstwhile you speech astir 20%, you are exceeding that amount. Forget astir if determination was [a] stockpile oregon not," said Grossi.
The "new stuff" the IAEA saw successful Iran
The U.S. quality assemblage assessed past spring that Iran was not actively gathering a atomic weapon, and a anterior weaponization programme was suspended successful 2003. But successful caller years, Iran has enriched uranium to 60%, adjacent the level required to physique a bomb. (Iran has agelong denied immoderate involvement successful gathering a atomic limb and says its programme is peaceful.)
Grossi told CBS News that "we haven't seen a systematic program" similar the alleged atomic weapons improvement programme that existed anterior to 2003.
"But determination were many, galore concerning things, galore unanswered questions," said Grossi.
He said that aft helium became the IAEA's director-general successful 2019, a twelvemonth and a fractional aft Mr. Trump withdrew from the Obama-era atomic deal, "we started seeing caller stuff. We started seeing and getting caller elements that gave emergence to concerns, and we were talking astir them with Iran."
He said those concerns included the find of uranium particles successful places that Iran had not formally declared arsenic atomic sites, which Grossi described publically successful a 2024 statement.
Last year, the IAEA formally declared that it "is not capable to verify that determination has been nary diversion of atomic worldly … to atomic weapons oregon different atomic explosive devices."
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