Iran may be able to resume uranium enrichment after a “month problem” according to Rafael Grossi, director of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Fox News on Sunday, if US President Donald Trump agreed to peacefully advance sanctions against Iran, “There are sanctions. But if they do what they have to do, if they show that they don’t do any more damage, I’ll cancel them, I’ll cancel them, and that’s going to make a big difference,” Trump said.
During the exchange, Trump declined to justify bombing Iran’s nuclear power plant during negotiations that he said “I wouldn’t have made it happen,” and by saying that he “Iran could not have nuclear weapons and was a few weeks away from having it.”
On June 22, the US launched multiple joint attacks with Israel against three Iranian nuclear facilities, Ford, Natanz and Isfahan. Trump said the facility was “completely gone,” and the attack brought Iran’s nuclear program back to “decades.”
But Grossi told CBS News on Saturday, “The ability they have is there. They… within a few months, some cascades of centrifuges will spin and produce rich uranium.” “But like I said, frankly, you can’t argue that everything is gone and there’s nothing there.”
Different voices regarding the extent of damage caused by strikes
On June 25, an assessment of the leaked spare Pentagon revealed that Iran’s nuclear program had probably only returned for a few months. Following the report’s excursion, US President Donald Trump threatened to let journalists know who leaked a report that contradicted his story about the bombing of Iran.
In Iran, on the one hand, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the strikes had not achieved anything important, while on the other hand, Foreign Minister Abbas Araguchi said “excessive and serious” damage had occurred.
Grossi, the leader of the International Atomic Energy Agency, asked for inspection of the damaged facility, but Tehran refused the request and voted to suspend ties with Oiaea on Wednesday, accusing Israel and the US supervisor of not condemning the attack on Iran.
However, Grossi hopes the IAEA can restructure its relationship with Tehran. On Saturday he said, “I have to sit with Iran and look into this because at the end of the day, all this needs to be after a military strike, a long-term solution that isn’t a diplomatic solution.”
In 2015, Iran and the world’s great powers reached a nuclear deal that banned Tehran from enriching uranium above 3.67% purity (a private nuclear use set to enrich more than 3.67%, and was banned from enriching at the Ford plant until 2030.
Iran, which has always argued that the nuclear program is peace, is a signatory to the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons (NPT) and must be submitted to IAEA testing.
However, in 2018, Trump said he had withdrawn the US from its contract and failed enough to block Iran’s route to nuclear weapons, reinstating US sanctions.
In contrast, Israel is not part of the NPT, and Tel Aviv never said whether it owns nuclear weapons, but according to the Stockholm Institute for International Peace, the country is estimated to have at least 80 nuclear weapons.
Israel began attacking Iran on June 13, claiming that Iran was close to building nuclear weapons.
After a 12-day war, Iran and Israel agreed to a ceasefire, but Trump said he would “absolutely” consider bombing Iran again if he finds sufficient evidence that Iran’s uranium enrichment has risen to a worrying level.
