CIA Chief: Iran Could Enrich Uranium to Weapons-grade within Weeks

 CIA director William Burns (AP)
CIA director William Burns (AP)
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CIA Chief: Iran Could Enrich Uranium to Weapons-grade within Weeks

 CIA director William Burns (AP)
CIA director William Burns (AP)

CIA director William Burns warned on Sunday that Iran could enrich uranium within weeks to 90 percent, the quantity it needs for a nuclear weapon.

He added that in terms of its missile systems, Iran’s ability to deliver a nuclear weapon, once developed, has also been advancing as well.

In an interview with CBS news that aired on “Face the Nation,” Burns expressed concern about the growing dimensions of Tehran's nuclear program, after reports last week said inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) found enriched uranium to a purity of up to 84 percent.

However, the CIA director said Washington does not believe that the Supreme Leader in Iran has yet made a decision to resume the weaponization program that we judge that they suspended or stopped at the end of 2003.

Burns said Iran obviously advanced its enrichment programs very far over the past couple of years.

“They've advanced very far to the point where it would only be a matter of weeks before they can enrich to 90 percent, if they chose to cross that line,” he said, adding that also in terms of their missile systems, their ability to deliver a nuclear weapon, once they developed it, has also been advancing as well.

“We don't see evidence that Iran made a decision to resume that weaponization program,” Burns affirmed, adding that the other dimensions of this challenge are growing at a worrisome pace too.

The CIA director was referring to the Amad Project, Iran’s plan to build an atomic warhead that was pursued under the supervision of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran's prominent nuclear figure. Tehran said the project was stopped in 2003.

The IAEA had stated in its 2011 report that some work related to the Amad Project continued, indicating the role of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

Last Monday, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said it had detected uranium enriched to 84 percent purity, which is just 6 percent below the weapons grade purity of 90 percent required for a nuclear weapon.

IAEA said it was discussing the recent results of verification activities with Iran.

Iran has been enriching uranium to up to 60 percent purity since April 2021. Three months ago it started enriching to that level at a second site, Fordow, which is dug into a mountain. Weapons grade is around 90 percent.

Two diplomats told Reuters the IAEA, which inspects Iran's nuclear facilities, had detected uranium enriched to 84%, confirming an initial report late on Sunday by Bloomberg News.

“The issue is whether it was a blip in the reconfigured cascades or deliberate. The agency has asked Iran for an explanation," one of the diplomats told Reuters.

Last Friday, Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said Tehran “has the right to enrich uranium at any rate it wants.”

Iran then tried to respond to international concerns, when it announced on Wednesday the arrival of an IAEA team to the Fordow facility to remove ambiguities about the 84 percent enriched uranium, in tacit confirmation of the validity of what the agency announced.

Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad Eslami said IAEA inspectors had been in Tehran since Tuesday and had started negotiations, visits and checks to resolve “ambiguities created by an inspector.”

Early this month, the UN nuclear watchdog criticised Iran for making an undeclared change to the interconnection between the two clusters of advanced machines enriching uranium to up to 60% purity, close to weapons grade, at its Fordow plant.



CIA Chief Told Lawmakers Iran Nuclear Program Set Back Years with Strikes on Metal Conversion Site

This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows overview of Fordo enrichment facility in Iran, on June 29, 2025. (Maxar Technologies via AP)
This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows overview of Fordo enrichment facility in Iran, on June 29, 2025. (Maxar Technologies via AP)
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CIA Chief Told Lawmakers Iran Nuclear Program Set Back Years with Strikes on Metal Conversion Site

This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows overview of Fordo enrichment facility in Iran, on June 29, 2025. (Maxar Technologies via AP)
This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows overview of Fordo enrichment facility in Iran, on June 29, 2025. (Maxar Technologies via AP)

CIA Director John Ratcliffe told skeptical US lawmakers that American military strikes destroyed Iran's lone metal conversion facility and in the process delivered a monumental setback to Tehran’s nuclear program that would take years to overcome, a US official said Sunday.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive intelligence, said Ratcliffe laid out the importance of the strikes on the metal conversion facility during a classified hearing for US lawmakers last week.

Details about the private briefings surfaced as President Donald Trump and his administration keep pushing back on questions from Democratic lawmakers and others about how far Iran was set back by the strikes before last Tuesday’s ceasefire with Israel took hold.

“It was obliterating like nobody’s ever seen before,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” “And that meant the end to their nuclear ambitions, at least for a period of time.”

Ratcliffe also told lawmakers that the intelligence community assessed the vast majority of Iran's amassed enriched uranium likely remains buried under the rubble at Isfahan and Fordo, two of the three key nuclear facilities targeted by US strikes.

But even if the uranium remains intact, the loss of its metal conversion facility effectively has taken away Tehran's ability to build a bomb for years to come, the official said.

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Sunday on CBS' “Face the Nation” that the three Iranian sites with “capabilities in terms of treatment, conversion and enrichment of uranium have been destroyed to an important degree.”

But, he added, “some is still standing” and that because capabilities remain, “if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again.” He said assessing the full damage comes down to Iran allowing in inspectors.

"Frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared, and there is nothing there," Grossi said.

Trump has insisted from just hours after three key targets were struck by US bunker-buster bombs and Tomahawk missiles that Iran's nuclear program was “obliterated.”

His defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has said they were “destroyed.” A preliminary report issued by the US Defense Intelligence Agency, meanwhile, said the strikes did significant damage to the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan sites, but did not totally destroy the facilities.

As a result of Israeli and US strikes, Grossi says that “it is clear that there has been severe damage, but it’s not total damage." Israel claims it has set back Iran’s nuclear program by “many years.”

The metal conversion facility that Ratcliffe said was destroyed was located at the Isfahan nuclear facility. The process of transforming enriched uranium gas into dense metal, or metallization, is a key step in building the explosive core of a bomb.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio in comments at the NATO summit last week also suggested that it was likely the US strikes had destroyed the metal conversion facility.

“You can’t do a nuclear weapon without a conversion facility," Rubio said. "We can’t even find where it is, where it used to be on the map. You can’t even find where it used to be because the whole thing is just blackened out. It’s gone. It’s wiped out.”

The CIA director also stressed to lawmakers during the congressional briefing that Iran’s air defense was shattered during the 12-day assault. As a result, any attempt by Iran to rebuild its nuclear program could now easily be thwarted by Israeli strikes that Iran currently has little wherewithal to defend against, the official said.

Ratcliffe's briefing to lawmakers on the US findings appeared to mesh with some of Israeli officials' battle damage assessments.

Israeli officials have determined that Iran's ability to enrich uranium to a weapons-grade level was neutralized for a prolonged period, according to a senior Israeli military official who was not authorized to talk publicly about the matter.

Tehran's nuclear program also was significantly damaged by the strikes killing key scientists, damage to Iran's missile production industry and the battering of Iran's aerial defense system, according to the Israeli's assessment.

Grossi, and some Democrats, note that Iran still has the know-how.

“You cannot undo the knowledge that you have or the capacities that you have,” Grossi said, emphasizing the need to come to a diplomatic deal on the country's nuclear program.