IAEA boss Grossi: “Iran has enough material for a nuclear bomb”

Iran’s nuclear facilities do not appear to have been damaged in the alleged Israeli military operation. But concerns about Iran’s nuclear program are growing increasingly. IAEA chief Grossi says Iran now has enough enriched uranium.

Iran has more highly enriched uranium than it needs if it wants to build one or perhaps even several nuclear bombs, says one of the people who should know best – Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.

Grossi is almost always worried, but there have been enough new reasons recently. After Iran’s attacks on Israel, awareness of the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program has grown again, and the Israel’s alleged counterattack reinforces this – even if it is still unclear which targets were hit and how. The nuclear facilities were not damaged, Rossi’s organization announced this morning.

A visit by Grossi to Iran is planned at some point in the next few weeks, certainly depending on how much tensions with Israel continue to escalate.

The IAEA chief is becoming clearer than before

Grossi knows from his inspectors in Iran that the Iranians have come significantly closer to a nuclear bomb since the breakdown of the nuclear talks in Vienna, which were intended to prevent exactly that. Grossi speaks in ARD-Interview that was conducted before Israel’s alleged counterattack, more plain language than before: “No country that does not yet have a nuclear bomb enriches uranium to this level: 60 percent!”

For a nuclear reactor to generate electricity, two and a half to four percent is enough. For an atomic bomb it takes 90 percent – but 60 percent, 90 percent, “technically speaking, that’s almost identical,” says Grossi:

But – this is also important to Grossi: Today there is no nuclear weapon in Iran and: “We” – he also means the IAEA – “have to stop them from doing so.”

Iran is sending signals

Grossi continues to hope that there will be no attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. This violates international law, he warns, and calls for extreme restraint. He himself is again in demand as a mediator – that’s how he understands his role. Talks as a confidence-building measure, the desire for “bilateral talks,” apparently come from Tehran. Grossi is willing to do so, repeating a few basic conditions. For example, there must be significantly more effective controls at the Iranian nuclear facilities than in recent months: “They say they have nothing to hide. Good – fantastic. Prove it to us!”

Nuclear agreement now outdated

The IAEA has inspectors in Iran, but Grossi also says there are probably many uranium centrifuges in places the nuclear agency doesn’t know about. So there’s a lot to talk about, but that doesn’t mean that there will be a resumption of international nuclear talks with Iran in Vienna. They are dead in their old form.

“They no longer exist,” says Grossi. The basis, the international nuclear agreement with Iran from 2015, has long been outdated. The Iranian nuclear program has developed enormously since then and new, modern centrifuges are being used. Iran now needs much less to produce much more weapons-grade uranium. The nuclear deal needs a “dramatic update to make it efficient.”