Fordow centrifuges no longer operational after Trump strikes, UN nuclear watchdog concludes

Centrifuges at Iran’s notorious underground Fordow Uranium Enrichment Plant are “no longer operational,” the leader of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog declared Thursday — backing the Trump administration’s assessment that last week’s strikes crippled Tehran’s ambitions for an atomic weapon.International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi cautioned that language claiming Iran’s facilities at Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz were “annihilated” was “too much,” but explained that “we already know that these centrifuges are no longer operational.”“It has suffered enormous damage,” Grossi told Radio France Internationale when pressed about the impact of the US strikes.“There is very, very, very considerable damage.”The Argentine refrained from estimating how far Iran’s nuclear program had been set back by Saturday’s strikes, but confirmed that “with these reduced capacities, it will be much more difficult for Iran to continue at the same pace as before.”A precise assessment of the damage to each site will require ground-level assessments with access that the Iranian authorities have been unwilling to give.

However, Grossi explained that centrifuges, which are needed to spin uranium material rapidly in order to enrich it to weapons-grade levels, are very sensitive to vibrations and require precision to work properly.“There was no escaping significant physical damage,” he told RFI of the effect of America’s bombs.“So we can come to a fairly accurate technical conclusion.”President Trump has been adamant that Iran’s facilities were “obliterated,” but a leaked “low confidence” preliminary assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) reported by multiple outlets Tuesday suggested the attack only set the program back by several months.CIA director John Ratcliffe later claimed that the strikes “severely damaged” Iran’s nuclear programs, citing a “body of credible intellige...