Iran did not move its highly enriched uranium stockpile before US airstrikes last month hit its key nuclear sites at Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan, an Israeli official told Reuters.
A senior Israeli official told Reuters the stockpile — estimated at 400 kilograms enriched to 60 percent — “was not removed and has not been moved since,” suggesting Iran made no attempt to safeguard the material before or after the strikes.
The official, who was not named, added that Iran may still be able to access the stockpile at Isfahan, but moving it would be very difficult.
“The Iranians might still be able to gain access to Isfahan but it would be hard to remove any of the material there,” wrote Reuters, citing the official.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had assessed before the war that most of the 60 percent enriched uranium was being stored at the Isfahan site.
Satellite imagery taken before US strikes on three key Iranian nuclear sites showed “unusual” activity near the entrance to Iran’s Fordow enrichment facility.16 cargo trucks were seen Thursday on the access road to the tunnel entrance, but by Friday most had relocated to an area about one kilometer northwest, Maxar Technologies said.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors have not publicly confirmed the condition of the stockpile since the strikes, and Iran has not allowed independent verification of the facilities since the war began.
The IAEA said on Friday that its team of inspectors had safely departed Iran to return to its headquarters in Vienna, after a new law barred cooperation with the UN body.
Tehran has accused the IAEA of sharing sensitive data with Israel and the US, and of failing to condemn last month’s airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
While Iran has denied ending cooperation entirely, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said coordination with the agency would now be managed through Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.
Israel must prevent Iran from restoring its prewar capabilities, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday.
“We need to formulate an enforcement program to prevent Iran from reviving the capabilities it had before,” Katz said. “The Iranians will try in every possible way to learn their lessons and recover. The enemy is learning and preparing — and our challenge is to step up our abilities so that we are not taken by surprise.”
US President Donald Trump says the airstrikes obliterated the sites, but nuclear experts have expressed caution over the full extent of the damage, raising the possibility that some nuclear assets may have been hidden.
France’s top intelligence official, Nicolas Lerner, said Tuesday that the strikes had “very seriously affected” all stages of Iran’s nuclear program but acknowledged, a small part of Iran’s highly-enriched uranium stockpile had been destroyed, but the rest remained in the hands of the authorities.
"Today we have indications (on where it is), but we cannot say with certainty as long as the IAEA does not restart its work. It's very important. We won't have the capacity to trace it (the stocks)," Lerner said.
