Rafael Grossi said that Iran’s nuclear infrastructure has taken a heavy hit but cautioned that key elements remain intact following last summer’s U.S. strikes and the ongoing conflict.

In an interview with Fareed Zakaria on CNN, Grossi said Iran’s nuclear efforts have been significantly set back, though not entirely dismantled.

“There was enormous damage, in particular during the 12-Day War last year, at Isfahan, Natanz, and Fordow,” he said, referring to the country’s primary uranium enrichment facilities.

Grossi explained that the recent month-long Operation Epic Fury targeted a broad range of objectives beyond nuclear-related sites, but even when combined with earlier attacks, “not everything was destroyed.”

He concurred with Zakaria’s point that military strikes cannot erase technical expertise, noting that knowledge gained in nuclear development cannot be eliminated through bombing.

“Don’t forget that this activity of uranium enrichment, which is rather complex, is not something that is impossible to do. The methodology is quite sophisticated. The centrifuges that spin at high velocity, to separate the isotope of uranium which is interesting from the one which is not – all of these things Iran has mastered over the years,” he said.

Grossi emphasized that uranium enrichment itself is “not, per se, a nuclear activity,” adding that if Iran chooses to proceed cautiously, it could carry out such work in smaller, harder-to-detect settings.

“You may have, in Iran, thousands – or perhaps more – of workshops, or small factories, where they could reproduce these capacities,” he said.

He aligned with U.S. intelligence assessments that the strikes on Isfahan, Natanz, and Fordow caused “very considerable” destruction, setting back Iran’s program by years, but reiterated that “there are things that remain.”

Zakaria pushed back, suggesting that this assessment conflicts with “the administration’s current claims” that without Operation Epic Fury, Iran might have been only weeks or months away from assembling a nuclear weapon.

Grossi responded that he does not have access to the intelligence underlying those claims but pointed out that Iran’s “stockpile of enriched uranium” appears to have survived the earlier 12-Day War.

“It is true that the program had reached a concerning level of development,” he said.

Grossi rejected Iran’s position that it has a “right to enrichment” and voiced some understanding for U.S. efforts to limit Tehran’s activities to “very limited enrichment activities” under international monitoring.

“Perhaps a suspension of these activities could be agreed for a few years, without Iran resigning permanently, as part of a trust-building process,” he suggested.

He declined to take a firm stance either supporting or opposing the joint U.S.-Israeli military actions, instead reiterating his preference for negotiations under nearly all circumstances.

Grossi also spoke positively about Iranian negotiators, describing them as “extremely intelligent and defend their positions, just as the United States and Israel do,” though he has previously voiced frustration over Tehran’s lack of full cooperation with inspections.

Separately, the IAEA reported Sunday that Iran’s heavy water facility at Khondab has “suffered severe damage and is no longer operational.” While heavy water is not itself nuclear material, it plays a crucial role in nuclear research and reactor development. The site was struck in an Israeli airstrike on Friday.

{Matzav.com}