Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has finally revealed what happened to the 400 kilograms of enriched, just-shy-of weapons-grade Uranium. Araghchi has claimed that the uranium enriched to 60 per cent remains buried beneath debris from the recent US strike on nuclear facilities.
The Iranian top diplomat’s statement comes amid speculations about the fate of the nuclear fuel post June’s US bombings. There were reports that Tehran has managed to move the uranium outside the Fordow nuclear plant, one of the nuclear facilities of Iran that was obliterated by the US B-2 bombers. Satellite images from two days before the attack had also shown earth movers and dump trucks lined outside the nuclear plant.
However, Araghchi, in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, claimed that almost all of the material lies under the rubble. "Almost all of the material lies under the rubble, and we have no plan to retrieve it until the circumstances permit," Araghchi said, adding that Iran did not know how much of it remained intact or had been destroyed.
“We will not know until we can remove it," he added.
The Foreign Minister said the attacks caused extensive structural damage but failed to destroy Iran's nuclear know-how. "Our facilities were hit hard, but technology cannot be bombed," he added. "More importantly, our determination has not been lost; it has even grown stronger after the war."
Interestingly, Araghch’s statement comes a day after Mohammad Javad Larijani, director of the Institute for Fundamental Sciences and a top aide of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said that Iran can "have an atomic bomb in less than two weeks” but does not want one.
Larijani referred to the fatwa issued by Khamenei and said that this fatwa "has exposed the fact that we do not have unlimited violence in Islamic thought and the school of the Ahl al-Bayt." Describing himself as a "strong supporter of developing nuclear capabilities", the Iranian top official said the world was surprised that the Islamic Republic did not want a bomb. “Among the countries in the world, only 10 countries have the ability to enrich uranium, one of which is Iran. Those countries have nuclear bombs, but we have no intention of building a nuclear bomb,” he said.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, too seemed to echo Araghchi’s statement, in an interview with the Swiss newspaper Lotano. Grossi said Tehran's technical knowledge has not been destroyed. “Iran still possesses enriched uranium, including about 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent, which is slightly below the level needed to build a nuclear weapon," he added.