A U.N. Nuclear Watchdog, Rafael Gross, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has claimed that the U.S. bombing run on Iran’s nuclear program failed to significantly deplete the nation’s stockpile of “near-weapons-grade” uranium.
The bombings still set Iran’s nuclear program back, as they are just now beginning to tunnel into the sites, which are still largely collapsed and destroyed. The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security claimed that while the sites are still powered, “… the visible activity does not indicate a dash to remove possible centrifuge or enriched uranium stocks inside the tunnel complex; rather it points more towards preparing controlled and secure access to two of the three tunnel entrances, and hardening the entrances and utilities against future strikes,”
Rafael Grossi, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Saturday that his agency believes “the majority” of Iran’s stockpile of near-weapons-grade uranium survived bombing runs from Israel and the United States in June.
Grossi said during an interview with a Swiss newspaper that the IAEA believes most of the uranium is still stored in Iran’s three primary nuclear facilities at Isfahan, Fordow, and Natanz. All three facilities were hit by devastating airstrikes from the United States in June.
The latest IAEA report estimated Iran has about 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity, which is far beyond any conceivable civilian use, but just shy of weapons-grade material. The IAEA has been asking Iran to account for the uranium ever since the June airstrikes, but the Iranians have not been very cooperative.