Iran could resume production of enriched uranium within months, despite significant damage caused to its nuclear facilities by US and Israeli attacks, according to the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi.
"The capacities they have are there. I would say that within months they could have several cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or even less than that period," Grossi said in an interview with CBS News.
Grossi, who heads the Vienna-based organization, has acknowledged that the attacks on the nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan have damaged Iran's capacity to enrich uranium.
However, he said that "honestly, no one can claim that everything has disappeared and that there is nothing there anymore."
"Iran is a very sophisticated country in terms of nuclear technology," Grossi said.
"Therefore, it cannot disappear. The knowledge or capacities that someone has cannot be undone."
Israel launched bombing raids on Iran's nuclear and military sites on June 13, with the aim of preventing Tehran from developing nuclear weapons - an objective that Iran denies, insisting that its program is for peaceful purposes only.
The United States has now joined the attacks, hitting three sites linked to Iran's nuclear program.
US President Donald Trump claimed on June 26 that Iran's nuclear program has been set back "by decades" and that he would consider further strikes if Iran returned to uranium enrichment.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has confirmed that the damage to nuclear facilities is "serious," although details are not known.
A major unknown issue concerns the fate of a significant amount of uranium enriched to 60 percent – above the level needed for civilian purposes and below the level appropriate for nuclear weapons.
Iran is believed to have about 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to that level.
"We don't know where this material could be," Grossi said.
"Part of it may have been destroyed in attacks, part of it may have been displaced. There needs to be clarification on this part."
In an interview with Fox News, Trump said he does not believe Iran has moved this amount of uranium.
"It's something very difficult and we haven't given them much time. They haven't moved anything," he said.
Meanwhile, Iranian lawmakers have voted to suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and Tehran has rejected Gross' request to visit damaged facilities, including Fordow, Iran's main uranium enrichment center.
"We need to confirm and assess what's there and what happened," Grossi said, among other things. (A2 Televizion)
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