The Iranian government has officially acknowledged for the first time that its nuclear facilities have been “severely damaged” by “repeated attacks” from Israel and the United States.
Iran's nuclear facilities have been badly damaged by repeated attacks from Israel and the United States, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said.
CNN reports this.
Assessment of damages and statements of the parties
“Our nuclear installations were badly damaged, that's for sure, because they were subjected to repeated attacks by Israeli and American aggressors,” Al Jazeera quotes Bagaei as saying.
He also noted that relevant Iranian organizations were working on a technical assessment of the damage. In response, US President Donald Trump previously said that the attack he ordered on Iranian nuclear facilities had resulted in “total destruction.”
However, according to CNN, preliminary intelligence only showed a few months of delay in Tehran's nuclear program. Trump criticized the media coverage, claiming that the strikes set Iran's nuclear ambitions back decades, though he acknowledged that the intelligence was “inconclusive.” He also suggested that Israel would soon provide a more complete picture of its findings.
Position of the IAEA and Iran
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that the 12-day conflict had “severely damaged” several of Iran’s nuclear facilities. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei also said that the Iranian parliament had voted to suspend cooperation with the IAEA. However, Iran did not approve the suspension of its membership in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), an agreement designed to prevent the global spread of nuclear weapons and promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology.
Recall that after the recent US airstrikes on three main Iranian nuclear facilities, more than 400 kg of potentially enriched uranium disappeared. In this regard, the IAEA insists on immediate inspections to clarify the circumstances.
