The head of the United Nations atomic watchdog agency said the US must secure a nuclear deal with Iran as soon as possible, warning that the Islamic Republic’s enriched materials are still intact and in need of monitoring.
Despite America and Israel’s joint airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities last year, Tehran still has access to highly enriched uranium, warned Rafael Grossi, the director general of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
US intelligence has repeatedly cautioned that if Iran’s uranium, currently enriched at 60%, reaches the 90% weapons-grade threshold, it would only take a few weeks to use the materials to complete an atomic weapon.
Grossi, who attended the talks between Washington and Tehran in Geneva this week, urged America to close the deal and rein in Iran’s nuclear program before war can break out.
“The problem is, we don’t have much time,” he told the French outlet TF1.
“Most of the material that Iran had accumulated up until June of last year, despite the bombings and the attacks, is still there, in large quantities, where it was at the time of the strikes,” Grossi said.
“Some of it may be less accessible, but the material is still there. From a non-proliferation standpoint, the material remains,” he added.
“That is why there is so much interest — I would say urgency — in reaching an agreement that would prevent new military action in the region.”
The IAEA chief said that war cannot be allowed to break out, warning that the conflict would throw the Middle East into chaos and make it that much more difficult to monitor Iran’s nuclear program.
Trump has said he would never allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons, and has threatened a looming attack on Iran that could come within the next week if the Islamic Republic fails to make a deal.
“If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. But bad things will happen if it doesn’t,” Trump said Thursday. “Maybe we’re going to make a deal. You are going to be finding out over the next, probably, 10 days.”
The president’s threats come as the US continues to build up its military forces in the Middle East, with a second aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, en route to the region.
