Iran is not far from having an atomic bomb, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog was quoted as saying in a Le Monde interview published on Wednesday, just hours before a visit to Tehran.
International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi said Iran still had a way to go before getting the bomb, but added: “They’re not far from it, you have to acknowledge.”
Grossi likened the development of a nuclear weapon to a jigsaw puzzle, adding that
Iran has the pieces and they could eventually put them together one day.
Grossi met the head of Iran’s atomic energy agency, Mohammad Eslami, on Thursday, April 17th, ahead of a fresh round of nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington.
Iranian and U.S. delegations are to gather in Rome on Saturday for a second round of Omani-mediated negotiations, a week after the longtime foes held their highest-level talks since U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned a landmark nuclear accord in 2018.
Western governments have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire a nuclear weapons capability, an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.
On Thursday, The New York Times reported that Trump had blocked an Israeli plan to strike Iranian nuclear facilities in favour of seeking a negotiated deal.
