A senior Israeli official revealed Thursday at New York Timesthat part of the highly enriched uranium of Iran, stored underground, survived the Israeli-American strikes last month on the nuclear sites of Natanz and Fordo. “A sufficient amount for a bomb remains accessible to Iranian engineers,” he warned, although the 18,000 active centrifuge has been damaged or destroyed. This discovery, which occurred shortly after the elimination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, pushed Israel to prepare a new military action, potentially without American support, facing an “Iranian sprint to the bomb” detected by his intelligence services.
The strikes have targeted key installations, but differences persist. Rafael Grossi, head of the IAEA, says that a large part of Ispahan uranium was moved before attacks, unlike the Israeli evaluation that the stock remained intact, protected by the depth of the site. President Donald Trump argued that the strikes “destroyed” the Iranian program for years, while his Minister of Defense, Pete Hegseth, described Fordo as “buried under a mountain”.
Since then, Iran has expelled the IAEA inspectors and disabled surveillance cameras, making its “increasingly opaque” program. Tehran could now disperse his nuclear activities in clandestine workshops to escape future strikes. Despite the damage inflicted, experts question the time necessary for Iran to restore its enrichment capacities. The Israeli official remains confident: “Any new test will be detected, offering a window for an additional strike. »»
