‘We did not say that,’ IAEA chief denies Iran building a nuclear weapon

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) did not say that Iran was building nuclear weapons in its report, the UN watchdog’s Directorate General said.Rafael Mariano Grossi, Directorate General of IAEA, told Sky News that from evaluation of the agency in Iran, they could not affirm that systematic efforts were observed in Iran manufacturing a nuclear weapon.
“For us, on the basis of our inspections, our own evaluations, we came to the conclusion that we could not affirm that there is any systematic effort in Iran at the moment to manufacture a nuclear weapon,” Grossi said.
“While we say that, at the same time, we say Iran is enriching 60% Uranium, the only country in the world doing that, so there were elements of concern but us to saying they are manufacturing a nuclear weapon? No, we didn’t say that,” he added.Read more: Israel Iran War Live Updates

The IAEA had released a report recently stating that Iran is failing to meet its nuclear obligations for the first time in nearly 20 years. Soon after the report was published, Israel launched strikes on Iran’s nuclear site programmes in the early hours of May 13, calling it Operation Rising Lion.

Concerns of Israeli attacks on nuclear sites

The IAEA chief also highlighted the concerns of nuclear radiations and leaks following the Israeli attacks.

“Of course we are. We have this concern and this concern proceeds from a nuclear safety perspective because there is always a possibility of a radiological event – dispersion of nuclear material in the atmosphere,” Grossi told Sky News.

Nuclear sites targeted by Israel, confirmed IAEA

Earlier on on Wednesday (June 18), the IAEA had confirmed that two nuclear centrifuge centres in Iran were hit by Israel by using about 50 fighter jets.

Israeli airstrikes hit the Tesa Karaj workshop and the Tehran research centre, which were important nuclear centrifuge production facilities for Iran.

Read more: Israel’s Soroka hospital hit by Irani missile intended for army, intelligence headquarters

At Karaj, two buildings were destroyed where different centrifuge components were manufactured, whereas one building was hit where advanced centrifuge rotors were manufactured and tested in Tehran, IAEA had stated.

Earlier on June 17, the IAEA had revised its assessment of the Natanz nuclear complex stating that the Israeli military strikes hit the underground uranium enrichment plant directly. It had earlier said that the site was indirectly hit, as per Reuters.