The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog warned that Iran is “not entirely transparent” regarding its atomic program, particularly after an official who once led Tehran’s program announced that the Islamic Republic has all the pieces for a weapon “in our hands.”
The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency alluded to remarks made this weekend by Ali Akbar Salehi. Grossi noted “an accumulation of complexities” in the wider Middle East amid Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Iran is “presenting a face which is not entirely transparent when it comes to its nuclear activities. Of course, this increases dangers,” Grossi said. “There’s loose talk about nuclear weapons more and more, including in Iran recently. A very high official said we have everything, it’s disassembled. Well, please let me know what you have.”
Grossi did not identify the Iranian official who commented. However, in an Iranian state television show late Sunday, Salehi said that the country had all it needed to build a weapon.
Iran, after the collapse of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, has pursued nuclear enrichment just below weapons-grade levels.
Tehran has accumulated enough enriched uranium to build several weapons if it chooses. However, U.S. intelligence agencies and others assess that Iran has yet to begin a weapons program. Israel long has been believed to have its own nuclear weapons program.
