There is no information on the location of Iran’s enriched uranium following U.S. strikes on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.
Rafael Grossi made the comments to Fox News when asked about the location of 900 pounds of potentially enriched uranium that Iranian officials said had been removed for its protection ahead of strikes on its facilities.
Why It Matters
The United States military carried out strikes on three nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, over the weekend amid the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel. President Donald Trump said the operation had obliterated the country’s nuclear program, although analysts have been more cautious pending a final battle damage assessment.
A CNN report citing leaked intelligence suggested that the impact of the strikes was limited. While Trump has rejected this report, Grossi’s comments will add to doubts about whether Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon has been truly curtailed.
What To Know
Grossi was asked on Fox News’s The Story with Martha MacCallum about the impact of the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, including the whereabouts of its enriched uranium.
Uranium enrichment involves removing uranium-238 and increasing the proportion of uranium-235, which supports the fission chain reaction needed for nuclear power and weapons. Enriching uranium to 60 percent is significant, but reaching 90 percent needed for nuclear weapons is easier once 60 percent enrichment is achieved.
Grossi had said Iran had protected its enriched uranium, and there was even a potential site near Isfahan where 900 pounds of the material enriched to 60 percent may have been taken.
When asked if the material had been taken there, Grossi replied he would not speculate, but “we do not have information of the whereabouts of this material.”
Grossi said that the IAEA was making an informed rather than speculative assumption based on an Iranian official telling him it would take protective measures, which “may or may not” include moving around the material.
Sina Toossi, a senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy, told Newsweek that Iran had already dispersed and concealed much of its sensitive nuclear material and equipment.
Fordow was reportedly evacuated before the U.S. strike, and key centrifuge and uranium stockpiles are now unaccounted for and instead of neutralizing Iran’s nuclear capabilities, the war may have pushed Tehran closer to covert weaponization under a hardened doctrine, Toossi said.
Representative Jim Himes, a Democrat among the Gang of Eight leaders within Congress who are briefed on classified intelligence matters, told MSNBC that satellite imagery showed trucks backing up from Iranian nuclear sites.
Given that targeting its nuclear facilities had been trailed for a long time, he said the regime would know that the critical step would be to move the material away to safety.
What People Are Saying
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi told Fox News: “I have to be very precise…we are the IAEA, so we are not speculating here. We do not have information of the whereabouts of this material.”
Representative Jim Himes, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, told MSNBC: “If you were an Iranian regime member…you would take the really critical stuff and you would move it away from you knew was going to be targeted.”
Sina Toossi, a senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy, told Newsweek that before the U.S. strikes, “Iran had already dispersed and concealed much of its sensitive nuclear material and equipment.”
What Happens Next
Grossi said the only way to find out for sure about Iran’s enriched uranium was to resume inspections as soon as possible. This reiterates an IAEA statement from Tuesday, in which Grossi proposed meeting Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi soon.