Iran still has enriched uranium, Israeli official says
It remains unclear how long it would take Iran to rebuild its nuclear program following US and Israeli attacks
What happened
Israel believes some of Iran's enriched uranium survived last month's U.S. and Israeli airstrikes, and "may be accessible to Iranian nuclear engineers," according to The New York Times, citing an unnamed senior Israeli official. But the uranium is likely buried deep under rubble, the official said in a briefing for reporters late Wednesday.
Who said what
"As President Trump has said many times," the bunker-busting bombs dropped on Iran's enrichment sites "obliterated" the country's nuclear facilities, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said Thursday. The "question" now, said the Times, is how long it would take Iran to rebuild those capabilities, "especially after the top scientists in their nuclear program were targeted and killed."
Reaching the uranium "would take a very difficult recovery effort," The Associated Press said. And the Israeli official "said any attempts by Iran" to do so "would almost certainly be detected — and there would be time to attack the facilities again," said the Times.
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What next?
The only way to confirm the true scale of the damage would be for Iran to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect its facilities, an official from the UN nuclear watchdog told the AP. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian last week suspended cooperation with the agency.
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