‘Craters visible, no one can access site’: IAEA chief on the underground damage at Fordow

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi said craters are visible at Iran’s Fordow nuclear site and no one from the agency is in a position to access the site at the moment. He also gave updates on Isfahan and Natanz sites, and said all parties must now come to the negotiation table.

“Craters are visible at the Fordow site – Iran’s main location for enriching uranium at 60 per cent, indicating the use of ground-penetrating munitions. This is consistent with statements from the United States. At this time, no one, including the IAEA, is in a position to assess the underground damage at Fordow,” Grossi said at a special session on the board of governors of the IAEA in Vienna. Grossi also updated the UNSC with the same details earlier.

“Given the explosive payload utilised and the extreme vibration sensitive nature of centrifuges, very significant damage is expected to have occurred,” he further added. 

Speaking about the Isfahan site, Grossi said, “Additional buildings were hit overnight, with the US confirming their use of cruise missiles. Affected buildings include some related to uranium conversion process. At this site, entrances to tunnels used for the storage of enriched material appear to have been hit,” he added.

The Natanz fuel enrichment plant “has been hit again with the US confirming that it used ground-penetrating munitions”, Grossi said. “Iran has informed the IAEA that there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels at the three sites,” he said. 

The IAEA chief also called for a return to diplomacy between Iran and Israel amid rising tensions in the Middle East. He emphasised the need for IAEA inspectors to access Iran's nuclear sites. “We must return to the negotiating table and allow the IAEA inspectors, the guardians of the NPT, to go back to Iran's nuclear sites and account for the stockpiles of uranium, including, most importantly, the 400kg enriched to 60 per cent,” he said. 

Grossi stated that any agreement would require establishing facts on the ground through inspections. He warned that the nuclear non-proliferation regime, which has supported global security for over fifty years, is at risk due to recent events and bombardments in Iran.