The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in an emergency meeting on Monday that the escalating conflict in Iran “risks collapsing the global nuclear nonproliferation regime” and that if diplomacy is not pursued, “violence and destruction could reach unimaginable levels.”
The IAEA, the United Nations’ international nuclear watchdog, convened the emergency meeting following US strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites this weekend. In remarks delivered to the organization’s board of governors, Rafael Grossi, the director general of the IAEA, called for a “return to the negotiating table” to allow inspectors for the agency to safely assess damage to the sites and check in on Iran’s nuclear stockpile.
Iran has maintained to the IAEA that no additional radiation has been monitored at the sites throughout the duration of the attacks. IAEA inspectors have not been able to inspect the sites since the crisis began earlier this month.
“IAEA inspectors are in Iran, and they are ready,” Grossi said on Monday. He added that “no one, including the IAEA, is in a position to assess the underground damage at Fordow,” but he expected that the strikes did “very significant damage.”
Fordow, a centerpiece of Iran’s nuclear program and a uranium enrichment facility, was one of three sites struck by US bombs this weekend. Fordow has nearly 3,000 centrifuges stored some 90 meters underground. It was unclear as of Monday morning just how much damage the strikes did to the Fordow site, although some of the damage was visible from satellites. Natanz, another enrichment facility, as well as an important nuclear research facility near the city of Isfahan, which operates three small research reactors, were also attacked. (Israeli forces had also previously targeted Isfahan.)
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