clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

IAEA chief: Iran does not have enough uranium to build a nuclear bomb

October 12, 2020 at 12:17 pm

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks at the 64th General Conference of the IAEA at its headquarters in Vienna, Austria on September 21, 2020 [Aşkın Kıyağan – Anadolu Agency]

Iran does not, at this stage, have enough enriched uranium to build a nuclear bomb, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi has said.

“The Iranians continue to enrich uranium, and to a much higher degree than they have committed themselves to. And this amount is growing by the month,” Grossi added in an interview published on Saturday in the Austrian Die Presse newspaper.

In response to a question about how long it will take Iran to build a nuclear weapon, Grossi said: “In the IAEA we do not talk about breakout time. We look at the significant quantity, the minimum amount of enriched uranium or plutonium needed to make an atomic bomb. Iran does not have this significant quantity at the moment.”

Iran said it was no longer bound to the limits set up in the 2015 nuclear deal signed with world powers after the US unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and imposed “unprecedented sanctions” on the Islamic Republic.

READ: IAEA in wide-ranging talks with Saudi Arabia on tougher nuclear checks