Senators privately briefied on US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities
Trump officials gave senators a classified briefing on the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Iran’s nuclear program was severely hit by U.S. bomb strikes but did not face “total damage” and the program could be up and running again within months, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog chief said Sunday.
President Donald Trump had a different take on the results of the strikes at the nuclear progam’s primary site, telling Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that “it’s just thousands of tons of rock in that room right now. The whole place was destroyed.”
However, the Washington Post reported Sunday that the U.S. has intercepted communication between senior Iranian officials remarking that the attack was less devastating than had been expected. The Post cites four people familiar with the classified intelligence circulating within the U.S. government. And the Tehran Times reported that “the core of Iran’s nuclear program remains operational.”
Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the U.N.-sponsored International Atomic Energy Agency, said his agency was not making military evaluations but was using “logic” in determining that Iran’s nuclear program could be up and running fairly soon.
“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,” Grossi said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “But as I said, frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared and there is nothing there.”
Grossi said he expects Iran will continue with a nuclear program, “the contours of which are still to be seen” and will hopefully be part of negotiations. Again, Trump disagreed.
“It was obliterated like nobody’s ever seen before, and that meant the end to their nuclear ambitions at least for a period of time,” Trump said. “The last thing they want do right now is think about nuclear. They have to put themselves back into condition and shape.”
Grossi acknowledged that some of the uranium already enriched by Iranian scientists could have been destroyed as part of the attack. But some could have been moved, he said.
Trump had a different opinion again, telling Fox News that moving the uranium is “very hard to do, very dangerous to do, it’s very heavy.” Iran didn’t believe the U.S. would actually try to bomb nuclear sites and “didn’t know we were coming,” Trump said.
Grossi described Iran as a “very sophisticated country” in terms of nuclear technology.
“You cannot disinvent this,” Grossi said. “You cannot undo the knowledge that you have or the capacities that you have.”
That should work as an incentive to reach an agreement, Grossi said. And the agreement should include an inspection system “that will give everybody … the assurances that we can, we can definitely turn the page.”
Iran will remain firm in its demand that talks must begin with an explicit recognition of its sovereign right to enrich uranium on its own soil, the Tehran Times reported.
Trump was adamant that Iran would not develp nuclear weapons under his watch.
“Iran cannot have nuclear weapons,” he said in explaining his reasons for bombing the sites. “They wanted this for years and they were weeks away from getting it.”
Trump ordered the strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities − Operation Midnight Hammer − effectively joining a war that Israel started on June 13 when it began bombing Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure. Israel said it helped the U.S. coordinate and plan the strikes.
Trump said all three sites were “totally obliterated.” A Pentagon assessment was less definitive, and Iran says its nuclear program will hardly skip a beat. The actual damage and the impact on Iran’s program could become more clear in coming days.
