Key Points and Summary – In a stunning admission, Iran’s Foreign Minister has confirmed that recent U.S. B-2 strikes “destroyed” the nation’s nuclear facilities, describing the damages as “serious and severe.”
-However, in the same breath, he vowed that Iran would immediately begin rebuilding and would not give up on uranium enrichment, calling it a matter of “national pride.”
-The IAEA has warned that despite the damage, Tehran could resume enrichment within months. This defiant pledge, from a regime with a history of covert nuclear weapons programs, reignites fears and creates a new international crisis.
Iran Confirms Again: Nuclear Sites “Destroyed,” Will Be Rebuilt
Speaking to Fox News’ Bret Baier, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed that American B-2 strikes had “destroyed” Tehran’s nuclear facilities.
During the same interview, Araghchi also reaffirmed plans to rebuild the nation’s decades-old nuclear program and begin enriching uranium as soon as its facilities are repaired.
“It is stopped, yes, damages are serious and severe,” Araghchi told Baier. “But obviously we cannot give up [on] enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride.”
Araghchi also said that Iran’s facilities “have been destroyed,” but did not get into the details about which facilities were most damaged and how long it may take to restore its least-impacted facilities. He did, however, confirm that those efforts are underway and that Tehran does not intend to pause uranium enrichment, even as the U.S. and Europe warn that pre-2015 sanctions will be reimposed.
Despite the refusal to stop enriching uranium, however, Araghchi suggested that Tehran is willing to engage diplomatically with a view to ensuring it never develops nuclear weapons.
“If the goal is to make sure that Iran will never have nuclear weapons, that is achievable,” Araghchi said.
Iran has made the claim many times before, though its actions have consistently told a different story. Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has been since 1970, meaning the country is legally committed to neither developing nor acquiring nuclear weapons. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also issued a fatwa declaring nuclear weapons forbidden – something that has long been cited by Iranian diplomats as evidence Iran does not intend to build nuclear weapons.
However, the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) both agree that Iran ran a covert nuclear weapons program, known as the AMAD Project, until at least 2003. An IAEA report from 2011 also detailed weaponization-related activities within Iran’s secretive nuclear program, including warhead design work, high-explosives testing, and the modification of ballistic missiles to accommodate nuclear payloads.
In June, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said that Iran could be producing enriched uranium within a matter of months. Speaking to CBS News, Grossi said that despite damage done to its facilities, Iran could have “a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium” within the space of months.
“Frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared and there is nothing there,” he said.
About the Author:
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society. His latest book is The Truth Teller: RFK Jr. and the Case for a Post-Partisan Presidency.
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