Think Trump ‘obliterated’ Iran’s nuclear programme? Don’t be so sure
The whereabouts of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium is now a mystery. The UN’s nuclear watchdog says it has ‘nothing’ to go on
From the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog to leading American non-proliferation experts, scepticism is growing over Washington’s assertions that the strikes set back Tehran’s nuclear weapons ambitions “by years”.
But nuclear experts agree: no one outside Iran can say with any certainty what has become of the country’s 900lb (409kg) stockpile of 60 per cent-enriched uranium. While this enrichment level falls one step short of weapons-grade, it is – by the UN’s reckoning – enough to produce as many as nine nuclear warheads were Tehran to take that final leap.
Before the strikes, the IAEA had what it described as a “comprehensive” picture of Iran’s HEU reserves and the centrifuges spinning to enrich uranium. But now, as Director General Rafael Grossi told US news network CBS last Sunday, “there is nothing”.
