Iran’s uranium stockpile survived Israeli, US airstrikes – report

Global atomic energy watchdog group believes that most of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium survived the 12-day war with Israel unscathed.

By World Israel News Staff

Most of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium survived Israeli and American airstrikes, the United Nations’ atomic energy watchdog group believes.

Israeli warplanes bombed Iranian nuclear facilities across the country during the 12-day war this past June, including atomic sites at Fordo, Isfahan, and Natanz.

American B-2 stealth bombers also struck those facilities during a one-day air campaign.

While the US and Israel have assessed the damage done to Iran’s nuclear program, and in particular to the country’s capacity for uranium enrichment, questions lingered after the strikes regarding the fate of the approximately 970 pounds of highly enriched uranium already produced by Iran.

On Saturday, Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that he believes “the majority” of Iran’s uranium stockpile enriched to 60% purity survived the Israeli and American strikes.

That stockpile, which the IAEA estimated in the past was enough to produce 9 or 10 atomic bombs, most likely “remains in the nuclear facilities in Isfahan and Fordo, and some in Natanz,” Grossi told the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

Grossi did suggest that some of Iran’s enriched uranium was probably destroyed in the attacks, but he estimated that around 90% of it was still intact inside the damaged facilities.

Prior to the June war, the IAEA estimated that Iran possessed 972 pounds of uranium enriched to 60% purity. After the airstrikes, Grossi said the IAEA believes Iran has around 880 pounds left from its stockpile – enough for eight or nine atomic bombs.

Regarding the condition of the three key Iranian atomic facilities at Fordo, Isfahan, and Natanz, Grossi said they appeared to be “massively damaged.”

However, Grossi warned that without Iran’s cooperation, his agency would be unable to precisely gauge either the damage to Iran’s nuclear program or the fate of its uranium stockpile.

“Will we get access to this uranium?” he asked. “And what will happen to it then? Will Iran want to keep it, will it reduce its enrichment levels again, or will Iran move this uranium abroad?”