Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the agency believes that the bulk of the Iranian regime’s highly enriched uranium stockpiles still remain inside Iran.
Grossi said in an interview with the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti on Monday, December 22: “Undoubtedly, we are facing a serious lack of information regarding Iran’s nuclear program, which from a non-proliferation perspective is a very negative matter.”
According to him, even despite severe damage to the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan facilities in U.S. and Israeli bombings, there is a clear understanding that the bulk of the Iranian regime’s highly enriched uranium is being kept inside Iran.
Grossi Rejects Tehran’s Claim That Nuclear Facilities Are Out of Reach
The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency stressed that this issue is of extraordinary importance from a non-proliferation standpoint.
Grossi did not provide details about the status or location of the remaining portion of the Iranian regime’s uranium stockpiles.
It is unclear whether his statement that most of these stockpiles are kept inside Iran implies that another portion may have been transferred out of the country and destroyed in the attacks.
The Iranian regime possesses more than 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium and following U.S. and Israeli attacks on nuclear facilities in Iran during the 12-day war, various speculations have been raised about their fate.
Grossi stated on October 19 that the Iranian regime keeps most of its enriched uranium stockpiles at the Isfahan, Fordow, and Natanz nuclear facilities, to which agency inspectors do not have access.
He later warned on October 29 that agency inspectors had observed movements around the locations where uranium stockpiles are stored.
Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian regime’s foreign minister, said in an interview with the Al Jazeera network on November 3 that the highly enriched uranium stockpiles are buried under the rubble of bombed facilities.
He said that until these stockpiles are pulled out from under the rubble, it is not possible to assess how much has remained intact and how much has been destroyed.
On November 20, the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency adopted a resolution calling on Tehran to immediately inform the agency about the status of enriched uranium stockpiles and bombed nuclear facilities.
Reza Najafi, the Iranian regime’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, said Tehran considers this resolution “unconstructive and political.”
The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency had previously warned that if the Iranian regime decides to militarize its nuclear program, the amount of enriched uranium stockpiled in Iran could be sufficient to build about 10 atomic bombs.
