The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Wednesday that his “number one priority” is for its inspectors to return to Iran’s nuclear sites to evaluate damage caused by recent bombing and to verify stockpiles of highly enriched uranium.
Israel repeatedly struck Iranian nuclear facilities during its 12-day-war with Tehran, and US forces bombed Iran's underground nuclear facilities at the weekend, but the extent of the damage to its stocks of enriched uranium is unclear.
“So for that, to confirm, for the whole situation, evaluation, we need to return (IAEA inspectors to Iran's nuclear facilities),” UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told reporters in Austria following a briefing to the Government in Vienna.
Grossi said there is a chance that much of Iran's highly enriched uranium survived the Israeli and US attacks because it may have been moved by Tehran soon after the first strikes.
Earlier this week, Grossi said Iran had informed the IAEA on June 13 - the first day of Israeli strikes - that it would take “special measures” to protect its nuclear materials and equipment.
“They did not get into details as to what that meant but clearly that was the implicit meaning of that, so we can imagine that this material is there,” Grossi told a press conference on Wednesday with members of the Austrian government.
Meanwhile, Iran's parliament approved a bill on Wednesday on suspending cooperation with the IAEA and stipulating that any future IAEA inspection would need approval by Iran's Supreme National Security Council.
The IAEA needs to determine how much remains of Iran's stock of uranium enriched to up to 60% purity - a level that is close to the roughly 90% of weapons grade.
On Tuesday, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that a preliminary US intelligence assessment determined that the US strikes at the weekend set back Tehran's program by only a matter of months, meaning Iran could restart its nuclear program in that time.
“This hourglass approach is something I do not like ... It's in the eye of the beholder,” Grossi said.
“When you look at the ... reconstruction of the infrastructure, it's not impossible. First, there has been some that survived the attacks, and then this is work that Iran knows how to do. It would take some time,” he added.
Asked about Iran's threat to withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Grossi said, “This would be, of course, very regrettable.”
He added, “I hope this is not the case. I don't think this would help anybody, starting with Iran. This would lead to isolation and all sorts of problems and, why not, perhaps, if not the unravelling a very, very, very serious erosion in the NPT structure.”
