UN nuclear chief: Iran isn’t actively enriching uranium, but movement detected near stockpile

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog tells The Associated Press that Iran does not appear to be actively enriching uranium, but that the agency has recently detected renewed movement at the country’s nuclear sites.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, says that despite being unable to access Iranian nuclear sites, inspectors have not seen any activity via satellite to indicate that the Islamic Republic has accelerated its production of uranium enriched beyond what it had compiled before the 12-day war with Israel in June.

“However, the nuclear material enriched at 60% is still in Iran. And this is one of the points we are discussing because we need to go back there and to confirm that the material is there and it’s not being diverted to any other use,” Grossi says in an interview at the United Nations headquarters in New York. “This is very, very important.”

Grossi says, however, that inspectors have seen movement around the sites where the stockpiles are stored. Without additional access, the IAEA has had to rely on satellite imagery, which can only show so much, he says.

That stockpile could allow Iran to build as many as 10 nuclear bombs, should it decide to weaponize its program, Grossi warns.