Iran has the capacity to resume uranium enrichment again - potentially for a bomb - within "a few months," the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog has stated.
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the US strikes on three Iranian sites last weekend had caused severe but "not total" damage, contradicting Donald Trump's claim that Iran's nuclear facilities were "totally obliterated".
"Frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared and there is nothing there," Grossi said on Saturday.
On June 13, Israel attacked nuclear and military sites in Iran, claiming that Iran was on the verge of building a nuclear weapon. The United States later joined the strikes, bombing Iran's three nuclear facilities: Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan.
Since then, the true extent of the damage has been unclear.
On Saturday, Grossi told CBS News, the newsrealtime's US media partner, that Tehran could have "in a matter of months... a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium."
He added that Iran still possessed the "industrial and technological capacities... so if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again."
The IAEA is not the first body to suggest that Iran's nuclear capabilities could still continue - earlier this week, a Pentagon intelligence assessment found that the US strikes only set the program back by months.
Trump retorted furiously by declaring that Iran's nuclear sites were "completely destroyed" and accused the media of "an attempt to demean one of the most successful military strikes in history."
For now, Iran and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire.
But Trump has said He would "absolutely" consider bombing Iran again. if intelligence found that it could enrich uranium to concerning levels.
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On the other hand, Iran has sent conflicting messages about how much damage was caused.
In a speech on Thursday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the strikes had achieved nothing significant. However, its Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said "excessive and serious" damage was done.
Iran's already-strained relationship with the IAEA was further challenged on Wednesday, when its parliament moved to suspend cooperation with the atomic watchdog, accusing the IAEA of siding with Israel and the US.
The two countries attacked Iran after the UN body last month found Tehran to be in breach for the first time in 20 years.
Iran insists that its nuclear program is peaceful and for civilian use only.
Despite the Iranian refusal to work with his organization, Grossi said that he still hoped he could negotiate with Tehran.
"I have to sit down with Iran and look into this, because at the end of the day, this whole thing, after the military strikes, will have to have a long-lasting solution, which cannot be but a diplomatic one," he said.
Under a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Iran was not permitted to enrich uranium above 3.67% purity - the level required for fuel for commercial nuclear power plants - and was not allowed to carry out any enrichment at its Fordo plant for 15 years.
However, Trump abandoned the agreement during his first term in 2018, saying it did too little to stop a pathway to a bomb, and reinstated US sanctions.
Iran retaliated by increasingly breaching the restrictions—particularly those relating to enrichment. It resumed enrichment at Fordo in 2021 and had amassed enough 60%-enriched uranium to potentially make nine nuclear bombs, according to the IAEA.
