Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has for years warned about Iran’s widespread uranium enrichment at concentrations approaching the level needed to build a nuclear weapon.
Grossi told the Swiss newspaper Le Temps on Wednesday, October 22, that Iran’s regime still possesses enriched uranium, including about 400 kilograms enriched to 60%, a concentration slightly below weapons-grade. Grossi added that if the trend continues, Iran would have enough material for roughly 10 nuclear bombs.
Reaction from Araqchi to Grossi’s remarks
Abbas Araqchi, foreign minister of Iran’s regime, immediately responded to Grossi’s remarks, saying, “I do not know whether he said this out of concern or as a threat, but those who make such threats should know that repeating a failed experience will yield nothing but another failure for them.”
In his interview Grossi also said that if diplomacy fails, force would be used again. His words were not left unanswered by Iran’s regime officials. Ebrahim Azizi, chair of the National Security Commission, responded, “If Grossi had observed professional and technical principles, a war would not have taken shape.”
Azizi called Grossi an “agent” of the twelve-day war between Iran and Israel and said, “He is now worried about diplomacy.”
Grossi’s statements about Iran’s enriched uranium came after Iran halted cooperation with IAEA inspectors. Ali Larijani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, said that if the IAEA wants to conduct inspections, it must submit a formal request so it can be reviewed.
Following these developments, the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) released new satellite imagery saying that reconstruction activity has begun at the former site of the “Taleqan-2” facility, which had been destroyed in an Israeli strike.
All of this data suggests that Iran’s nuclear developments have reached a sensitive and dangerous stage.
Iranian regime’s Near-Weapons-Grade Uranium Stockpile Grew Before Strike
If Iran’s regime pursues the bomb path and can raise the enrichment level to 90%, the production of a nuclear weapon would become possible.
So far, the IAEA does not know whether the 400 kilograms of enriched uranium were buried underground after the bombing or moved elsewhere. Iran’s regime fears that this information could be passed to the United States and Israel so that in the next round of strikes those exact locations would be targeted.
Iran’s regime currently faces a crossroads of “surrender or resistance” and is trying to resist as much as possible in hopes of finding a way out of this crisis without the fall of the regime.
It is worth noting that the world was not aware of the regime’s nuclear program. In 2003 the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the largest Iranian opposition group, provided this information to international organizations to prevent the regime from building an atomic bomb.
If Iran’s regime is given enough time, it can reactivate its previously destroyed or dormant nuclear program.
According to experts, to convert these 400 kilograms into 90% enriched uranium, Iran’s regime would need to possess several thousand centrifuges secretly — and it has demonstrated that it has that capability.
Rebuilding nuclear sites and restoring the production capacity of several thousand centrifuges is possible but time-consuming, because many centrifuges have been destroyed or rendered unusable and must be rebuilt and reinstalled.
There is no precise information on the fate of the 400 kilograms of enriched uranium. Iran’s regime may be seeking to continue on the path to building an atomic bomb, in which case the lives of the Iranian people would be put at risk. Domestic experts say the regime’s nuclear project has so far cost roughly 2 trillion dollars directly or indirectly (under international sanctions), but Iran’s regime, which sees its survival tied to having a nuclear weapon, will not abandon this project.
