War against Iran has had 'relatively marginal' impact on nuclear program: UN weapons inspector

Source: The Hill

03/22/26 3:55 PM ET


Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in an interview that aired Sunday the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran has not done as much damage to the latter’s country nuclear program as U.S. and Israeli strikes did last June.

“This time around, I think the focus of the campaign does not seem to be specifically the nuclear facilities, although there have been some hits in Natanz and Isfahan and also at another place near Parchin, which used to be a facility more related to the weaponization efforts, but back in the early 2000s,” Grossi told host Margaret Brennan on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”. “So, there has been some [impact], but I would say they have been relatively marginal when you consider the overall nature of the military campaign so far,” he added.

The U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Feb. 28 with the stated intention of eliminating its nuclear program and ballistic missile capabilities. President Trump has also called for the Iranian people to topple the Islamic Republic regime, which has governed Iran for nearly 50 years.

But Grossi, who has helmed the IAEA since 2019, said that the agency will “still inherit a number of major issues that have been at the center of all of this” once the conflict concludes. Notably, he said that Iran’s inventory of enriched uranium is at 60 percent, which is “very close to the degree you need to make a bomb,” and is hidden under rubble. 0.3

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/international/5795733-grossi-iaea-iran-nuclear-program/