Iran Near-Bomb-Grade Uranium’s Location Uncertain, UN Watchdog Says
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UN Says It Has Lost Track of Iran’s Near-Bomb-Grade Uranium
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What To Know About Iran’s Nuclear Program After Israel’s Strikes
Israel launches strikes on Iran’s Natanz nuclear site. The strikes are part of a campaign to halt Iran’s nuclear program. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. The U.S. says it is concerned about Iran’s plans to build a nuclear bomb in the region, not just for its own sake, but also for the sake of its own people and the region’s security. The United Nations says Iran has been violating its nuclear deal with world powers by enriching its uranium to weapons-grade levels, which could be used to make a bomb in a few years. Iran has denied this, saying it is only enriching the uranium to meet the needs of its people. The UN says it has found no evidence that Iran is using the enriched uranium to make weapons, only that it has been used to build up its stockpile of weapons-usable material. The international community has called on Iran to stop enriching uranium to the point of becoming a weapon of mass destruction, but Iran has refused.
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Initial damage assessments indicate that the strikes on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility were particularly effective, knocking out the electricity on the underground area where the centrifuges used to enrich uranium are stored, Israel Defense Forces said in a statement Friday. Natanz had been the centerpiece of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and the site where much of its uranium fuel has been produced. On Friday evening, Iranian state media reported that Israel began striking Iran’s other major enrichment site—Fordow, which is buried deep within a mountain and is considered nearly impervious to conventional airstrikes. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the campaign a “strike at the head of Iran’s nuclear weaponization program,” and said it would continue “as many days as it takes” to eliminate the threat. Explosions were reported over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv Friday evening as Iran launched a broad retaliatory strike against Israel.
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Iran has insisted that it is not developing a bomb and that its nuclear program remains non-weaponized for peaceful energy purposes, though international inspectors have found increasing evidence to the contrary. The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog reported that Iran’s stockpile of 60% enriched uranium—just below weapons-grade—has grown large enough to produce multiple bombs if further enriched. Analysts say Iran could theoretically produce a bomb’s worth of material in as little as a week, and that no other country has that level of uranium without a nuclear weapons program. “This really was done as a last resort,” says Matt Kroenig, the senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center on international security who served in the Department of Defense and the intelligence community during the Bush, Obama, and Trump Administrations. “They were out of time. The best estimates were that Iran’s dash time to one bomb’s worth of weapons grade material was down to about a week.”
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Read more: Trump Issues Grave Warning to Iran After Israeli Strikes: ‘No More Death, No More Destruction’ Here’s what to know about Iran’s nuclear program. How did Iran’s nuclear program get this far? Iran’s nuclear journey began with American support. In 1957, the United States helped launch Iran’s atomic energy program under President Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” initiative, when the two nations were allies. By the 1970s, Iran was working on nuclear reactors with U.S. and European assistance, but that partnership collapsed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Since then, the U.S. has watched with alarm as Iran pursued nuclear capabilities, largely in secret. The Natanz site has been a focal point of that concern. In the early 2000s, it was revealed as part of a covert network of nuclear sites that Iran had failed to disclose to international inspectors. Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is peaceful, aimed at energy production and medical research. It is also a party to the UN’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which obliges members not to develop nuclear weapons. But international watchdogs have warned about the country’s enrichment of uranium to levels far beyond civilian use and its concealment of key facilities.
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Tensions escalated when President Donald Trump in 2018 pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal reached under President Barack Obama, an agreement that rolled back much of Iran’s enrichment activity, capped its uranium stockpile, and subjected its facilities to rigorous international inspections. Trump had called the deal “a disaster” and instead initiated new sanctions on the regime to cripple its economy. But Iran responded by gradually abandoning the agreement’s restrictions and ramping up uranium enrichment. It also removed all of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) equipment that had been installed for surveillance and monitoring. By 2024, Iran had resumed operations at Natanz and Fordow at a pace not seen in over a decade, deploying more advanced centrifuges and enriching uranium to 60-percent—alarmingly close to the 90-percent purity required for a nuclear weapon. Read more: Israel Gets the War It Wanted
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In recent months, Iranian officials confirmed they were building a third enrichment site, further deepening concerns that Tehran was preparing to take its nuclear program underground and beyond the reach of future diplomacy or attack. “There are only really three key nuclear facilities [in Iran],” says Jonathan Panikoff, the former deputy national intelligence officer for the Near East at the National Intelligence Council, pointing to Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan. “If they succeed in destroying those three facilities, it will really set Iran’s nuclear program back.” Could Iran build a nuclear weapon—and how soon? Technically, Iran has not yet built a nuclear weapon. But the infrastructure and know-how are in place, analysts say. Before Israel’s strikes, the IAEA found that Iran could enrich enough uranium for a bomb in about a week. That means that in five months, Iran could have had enough for 22 nuclear weapons. However, analysts note that uranium alone isn’t enough for a viable nuclear weapon and that it would take additional time to manufacture it.
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A veiled Iranian worshipper waves a flag of Lebanon’s Hezbollah next to a portrait of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during a protest to condemn Israeli attacks on Iran, after Friday prayers ceremonies in downtown Tehran, Iran, on June 13, 2025. Morteza Nikoubazl—Getty Images
Why Israel and the U.S. oppose a nuclear Iran Netanyahu believes that a nuclear-armed Iran is an existential threat, claiming that Iranian leaders have openly called for the end of the Israeli state and have lent support for groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. “Eighty years ago, Jews were victims of a Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazi regime. Today, the Jewish state refuses to be the victim of a nuclear Holocaust perpetrated by the Iranian regime,” Netanyahu declared on Friday. For Israel, the fear is not just a direct nuclear strike, but that Iran could act more aggressively throughout the region under the protection of a nuclear deterrent.
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Trump, a strong ally of Israel, has insisted that Iran “cannot have a nuclear weapon” and framed the moment as a possible “second chance” for Iran’s leadership to quickly reach an agreement on curbing its nuclear program in order to avoid further destruction “before there is nothing left and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire.” How has Iran’s nuclear program been damaged? Israel’s strikes on Friday marked the first overt attack on Iran’s core nuclear infrastructure. While it remains unclear how Iran’s nuclear program will ultimately be impacted, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told the U.N. Security Council on Friday that Natanz, the facility at the heart of Iran’s nuclear ambition, was destroyed in the strikes. Other major nuclear sites were not initially hit, though Grossi later noted that “Iranian authorities are informing us of attacks on two other facilities, namely the Fordow fuel enrichment plant and at Isfahan.”
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Several high-ranking Iranian military officials were also killed in the strikes, according to state-affiliated media, including six nuclear scientists and security forces tasked with protecting its nuclear sites.
But analysts note that Iran still likely retains much of its expertise and equipment. A full dismantling of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure would likely require a sustained campaign involving not only air power, but also cyber warfare, intelligence operations, and potentially ground forces.
Even so, the deeply buried Fordow site—nearly half a mile inside a mountain—could be beyond the reach of Israel’s current munitions. Only the U.S. is believed to possess the most advanced bunker-busting bombs capable of reliably penetrating such sites, says Panikoff.
Israel-Iran live updates: Trump weighs U.S. strike as Iran’s supreme leader says the ‘battle begins’
Right-wing media personality Tucker Carlson clashed with Sen. Ted Cruz in an interview. The clip immediately caught fire online, with Carlson’s post racking up more than 22 million views.
“How many people live in Iran, by the way?” Carlson asked the Texas Republican.
“I don’t know the population,” Cruz responded.
“At all?” Carlson asked, prompting Cruz to reiterate that he did not know. “You don’t know the population of the country you seek to topple?”
The clip immediately caught fire online, with Carlson’s post racking up more than 22 million views and thousands of comments, according to X analytics.
Read the full story here.
Does have Iran have nuclear weapons? What to know about their nuclear program
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation had “struck at the head of Iran’s nuclear weaponization program” Iran has spent decades developing its nuclear program and sees it as a source of national pride and sovereignty. Tehran has used its stockpile of weapons-grade uranium as a bargaining chip in talks with the United States. Iran has made significant progress in producing its key ingredient: highly enriched uranium. In recent years, it has sharply reduced the time needed to reach weapons- grade levels – now requiring just about a week to produce enough for one bomb. The US administration kicked off more than a year of indirect negotiations with Iran at reviving the deal, but those broke down in 2022. The U.N. nuclear watchdog says no other country has the kind of uranium that Iran currently does without also having a nuclear weapons program. It is unclear how close Iran might be to actually building a nuclear bomb, if at all, but it has madesignificant progress in produce its nuclear power plants that can produce fuel for power plants.
After decades of threats, Israel on Friday launched an audacious attack on Iran, targeting its nuclear sites, scientists and military leaders.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation had “struck at the head of Iran’s nuclear weaponization program.”
But international assessments, including by the US intelligence community, say that Iran’s nuclear program isn’t currently weaponized. Tehran has also repeatedly insisted it isn’t building a bomb.
Still, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t if it chose to.
Iran has spent decades developing its nuclear program and sees it as a source of national pride and sovereignty. It maintains the program is solely for peaceful energy purposes and plans to build additional nuclear power plants to meet domestic energy needs and free up more oil for export.
Nuclear plants require a fuel called uranium – and according to the UN nuclear watchdog, no other country has the kind of uranium that Iran currently does without also having a nuclear weapons program.
That has fueled suspicions that Iran isn’t being fully transparent about its intentions. Tehran has used its stockpile of weapons-grade uranium as a bargaining chip in talks with the United States, repeatedly saying it would get rid of it if US-led sanctions are lifted.
So, what exactly is uranium’s role in a nuclear weapon, and how far is Iran from weaponizing its program? Here’s what you need to know.
When did Iran’s nuclear program start?
The US launched a nuclear program with Iran in 1957. Back then, the Western-friendly monarch – the Shah – ruled Iran and the two countries were still friends.
With backing from the US, Iran started developing its nuclear power program in the 1970s. But the US pulled its support when the Shah was overthrown during the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Since the revolution, which transformed Iran into an Islamic Republic, Western nations have worried the country could use its nuclear program to produce atomic weapons using highly enriched uranium.
Iran has maintained that it does not seek to build nuclear weapons. It is a party to the UN’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), under which it has pledged not to develop a bomb.
Here’s where its nuclear facilities are located.
Why is the program so controversial?
At the heart of the controversy over Iran’s nuclear program is its enrichment of uranium – a process used to produce fuel for power plants that, at higher levels, can also be used to make a nuclear bomb.
In the early 2000s, international inspectors announced that they had found traces of highly enriched uranium at an Iranian plant in Natanz. Iran temporarily halted enrichment, but resumed it in 2006, insisting it was allowed under its agreement with the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
It prompted years of international sanctions against Iran.
After years of negotiations, Iran and six world powers in 2015 agreed to a nuclear deal that limited Iran’s nuclear threat in return for lighter sanctions.
The deal required Iran to keep its uranium enrichment levels at no more than 3.67%, down from near 20%, dramatically reduce its uranium stockpile, and phase out its centrifuges, among other measures.
Uranium isn’t bomb-grade until it’s enriched to 90% purity. And nuclear power plants that generate electricity use uranium that is enriched to between 3.5% and 5%.
Does Iran have nuclear weapons?
It’s unclear how close Iran might be to actually building a nuclear bomb, if at all, but it has made significant progress in producing its key ingredient: highly enriched uranium. In recent years, it has sharply reduced the time needed to reach weapons-grade levels – now requiring just about a week to produce enough for one bomb.
In 2018, Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal and initiated new sanctions on the regime to cripple its economy.
Tehran in turn said it would stop complying with parts of the agreement, and started increasing uranium enrichment and uranium stockpiles, and using advanced centrifuges.
It removed all of the IAEA equipment previously installed for surveillance and monitoring activities.
The Biden administration then kicked off more than a year of indirect negotiations with Iran aimed at reviving the deal, but those broke down in 2022.
In 2023, the IAEA said uranium particles enriched to 83.7% purity – close to bomb-grade levels – were found at an Iranian nuclear facility. Its stockpile of uranium enriched up to 60% had also grown to 128.3 kilograms, the highest level then documented.
And last year, the US shortened Iran’s so-called “breakout time” – the amount of time needed to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon – “to one or two weeks.”
An IAEA report sent to member states late last month said Iran’s stock of 60% purity enriched uranium had now grown to 408 kilograms. That is enough, if enriched further, for nine nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick.
The IAEA has long accused Iran of violating its non-proliferation obligations, but on Thursday – for the first time in almost 20 years – its board passed a resolution officially declaring Iran in breach of those obligations. Iran promised to respond by escalating its nuclear activities.
What exactly is enriched uranium?
Enrichment is a process that increases the amount of uranium-235, a special type of uranium used to power nuclear reactors or, in much higher amounts, to make nuclear weapons.
Natural uranium is mostly uranium‑238 – about 99.3%, which isn’t good for power or bombs. Only about 0.7% is uranium‑235, the part needed to release energy.
For nuclear energy use, that tiny amount of useful uranium-235 needs to be concentrated. To do this, uranium is first turned into a gas, then spun at high speeds in machines called centrifuges. These machines help separate uranium-235 from the more common uranium-238. That is what enrichment is.
Uranium used in nuclear power plants is typically enriched to about 3.67%. To make a nuclear bomb, it needs to be enriched to around 90%. Iran has enriched uranium to 60% – not enough for a bomb, but a major step closer to weapons-grade material.
Centrifuges are essential for enriching uranium. The more advanced the centrifuge, the faster and more efficiently it can separate uranium-235 from uranium-238 – shortening the time needed to produce nuclear fuel or, potentially, weapons-grade material. Iran has spent decades improving its centrifuge technology, starting with its first-generation IR-1 model in the late 1980s. Today, it operates thousands of machines, including advanced models like the IR-6 and IR-9.
According to the Arms Control Association, Iran’s current centrifuge capacity could allow it to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for a bomb in less than two weeks.
How has Iran’s nuclear program been hit?
Israel says it’s targeting Iran’s nuclear infrastructure in its attack.
Natanz, the facility at the heart of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, was engulfed in flames on Friday, according to social media images geolocated by CNN and Iranian state television coverage.
The nuclear complex there, about 250 kilometers (150 miles) south of the capital Tehran, is considered Iran’s largest uranium enrichment facility. Analysts say the site is used to develop and assemble centrifuges for uranium enrichment, a key technology that turns uranium into nuclear fuel.
The IAEA said three nuclear sites, Fordow, Isfahan and Bushehr, had not been impacted.
Six of Iran’s nuclear scientists were also killed in Israel’s strikes, Iranian state-affiliated Tasnim news agency said.
Iran has spent years strengthening its nuclear structures against the threat of military strikes, which will make it difficult to comprehensively destroy them, military experts have told CNN.
Some facilities are buried deep underground to put them out of reach of Israel’s weapons.
Iran not complying with nuclear obligations, U.N. watchdog says
IAEA: Iran in breach of its nonproliferation obligations for the first time in 20 years. Resolution cited “undeclared nuclear material and activities” discovered by inspectors. Iran immediately condemned the Thursday resolution, calling it politically motivated. Iran announced plans to open a new uranium enrichment site and upgrade the first-generation centrifuges it uses at its Fordow facility, state media reported.. The United States on Wednesday said it was drawing down military and diplomatic personnel across the Middle East in anticipation of such a strike, even as a sixth round of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks were scheduled for Sunday in Oman. President Donald Trump warned on June 12 of a looming conflict in the Mideast over Iran’s nuclear program. The talks appeared to have hit an impasse last week, with Iran’s supreme leader calling the U.N. position “nonsense.’“The Islamic Republic of Iran has no choice but to respond to this political resolution,” the statement said.
“Iran has repeatedly either not answered” IAEA requests “or not provided technically credible answers,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told the 35-nation board on Monday. Additionally, he said, Iran has sought to “sanitize the locations,” which the agency has now concluded were part of a “structured” nuclear program in the early 2000s.
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“Unless and until Iran assists the agency in resolving the outstanding safeguards issues, the agency will not be in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful,” Grossi said.
Iranian refusal to say what happened to the nuclear material at the sites has been a long-standing issue among IAEA member states, particularly in Europe. The Thursday resolution concluded that the agency had been prevented from being able “to verify that there has been no diversion of nuclear material required to be safeguarded.”
In a report prepared last month for the board meeting, the IAEA also reported that Iran had continued its high-level uranium enrichment it had begun following President Donald Trump’s first-term withdrawal from a nuclear agreement signed by the Obama administration and had increased its stockpile of near-weapons-grade material by at least 50 percent since February.
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Tehran immediately condemned the Thursday resolution, calling it politically motivated and “orchestrated by the United States.” In a joint statement, the Iranian Foreign Ministry and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran announced plans to open a new uranium enrichment site and upgrade the first-generation centrifuges it uses at its Fordow facility.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has no choice but to respond to this political resolution,” the statement said, according to a readout from Iranian state media. It said the new enrichment site would be in a “secure location,” without giving further specifics.
The diplomatic confrontation came as tensions soared in the Middle East, amid growing fears Israel is planning an imminent strike on Iran. The United States on Wednesday said it was drawing down military and diplomatic personnel across the Middle East in anticipation of such a strike, even as a sixth round of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks were scheduled for Sunday in Oman.
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Such a move by Israel would almost certainly scuttle the nuclear negotiations. Still, Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, will travel to Muscat on Sunday for talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, according to a person familiar with the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomacy.
Trump said Thursday that as long as he thinks there’s a chance for an agreement for Iran not to have a nuclear weapon, he did not want Israel “going in because I think that would blow it. Might help it actually, but it also could blow it.”
President Donald Trump warned on June 12 of a looming conflict in the Middle East over Iran’s nuclear program. (Video: TWP)
The talks appeared to have hit an impasse. Iran’s supreme leader criticized last week the proposal that U.S. negotiators had presented to their Iranian counterparts, calling the U.S. position “nonsense.”
The central point of disagreement appears to be Iran’s right to enrich uranium domestically. Iranian officials have said the right to enrichment is a red line for Tehran. The Trump administration’s position is less clear: At times, U.S. officials have insisted on zero enrichment and in other instances, they’ve expressed support for strict limits.
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During his first term as president, Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal Iran struck with world powers, including the United States. That agreement curbed Iran’s atomic energy activities, in part through stringent inspections, in exchange for widespread sanctions relief.
It was unclear Thursday if the new facility Iran announced will increase Tehran’s nuclear proliferation threat, said Kelsey Davenport, the director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association, a Washington-based group that advocates for limits on nuclear weapons.
Regardless, the move is “concerning,” Davenport said. “If this turns out to be a facility that Iran has already built out, then it could become operational relatively quickly and pose much more of a risk,” she said, describing Iran’s overall response to the IAEA vote as “measured.”
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But if Iran fails to cooperate with the IAEA, the issue will be raised at another meeting of the board of governors later in the summer. Iran could also be referred to the U.N. Security Council.
European nations in particular are faced with a fast-approaching deadline for a diplomatic resolution. The authority to reimpose a number of harsh sanctions that were lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal expires in October. Among the “snapback” sanctions are a U.N. arms embargo, a ban on uranium enrichment and a global asset freeze targeting certain Iranian individuals and entities.
In the resolution passed on Thursday, the IAEA referred directly to the talks between Iran and the United States. It called on all parties to support “a diplomatic solution to the problems posed by the Iranian nuclear program,” as well as “an agreement that addresses all international concerns related to Iran’s nuclear activities.”