ISRAEL says some of Iran’s highly-enriched near weapons-grade uranium stockpile survived US bombings during the 12-Day War last month.
Doubts remained about whether Iran quietly removed 408.6 kgs of uranium from its most sensitive sites before the strikes – potentially hiding nuclear material elsewhere in the country.
Maxar via ReutersConstruction activity post-bombing at Fordow as of June 27; annotations by The Sun[/caption] A satellite overview shows earthmoving at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Facility on June 27; annotations by The Sun ReutersA satellite view shows an overview of Fordow underground complex after the US bombings on June 21[/caption]The uranium in question is enriched to 60 per cent – way above levels for civilian usage but slightly below weapons-grade.
That material, if further refined to 90 per cent, would theoretically be sufficient to produce more than nine nuclear bombs.
An Israeli official said some of the uranium stockpile survived the US and Israeli bombings last month, according to The New York Times.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, did not express concern about the remaining stockpile and said any attempt to recover it would be detected by the Israeli intelligence.
They also said that Israel would have enough time to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities again if the regime tries to recover it.
Tehran admitted that Operation Midnight Hammer – which saw American B-2 Spirit bombers drop more than a dozen GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs – did cause “excessive and serious” damage.
But it was not clear immediately if the strikes – which hit Iran’s Fordow nuclear enrichment plant, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities – were able to destroy the entire stockpile of enriched uranium.
Analysts and experts said Iran may have moved some of the stockpile out of the nuclear facilities before the bombing raids after satellite imagery showed trucks moving out of Fordow in the days leading up to the attack.
President Donald Trump dismissed such speculation, saying: “Nothing was taken out… too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move!”
He added that satellite images showed trucks at the site only because Iranian crews were attempting to shield the facility with concrete.
Trump claimed that the strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities and “completely destroyed” the Fordow enrichment plant.
In an interview with Fox News, the US president said the Fordow enrichment site was “just thousands of tons of rock” and that “the whole place was just destroyed.” He said the strikes had landed at “the perfect time”.
He added: “We went in, we destroyed their nuclear capability and we stopped. It was a beautiful thing and they couldn’t have gone on much further.”
The president also slammed leaked preliminary findings from the Pentagon’s Defence Intelligence Agency that said the damage was not severe enough to destroy its nuclear programme.
But even with a ceasefire being agreed upon, Trump made it clear he would “absolutely” consider bombing Iran again if it was ever needed.
He told reporters in the White House he would “without question” attack the country if US intelligence pointed towards Iran enriching uranium to concerning levels.
Meanwhile, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi says Iran likely will be able to begin to produce enriched uranium “in a matter of months,” despite the damage.
He said: “They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that.”
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