'Given Power Of These Bombs': IAEA Chief Says Iran's Uranium Centrifuges Disable After US Strikes

Last Updated:June 26, 2025, 22:25 IST

Grossi said the damage was a result of the United States dropping ‘bunker busters’ on key Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities last week

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi. (AP file photo)

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, on Thursday said that Iran’s uranium-enriching centrifuges are likely “no longer operational" following US airstrikes.

Grossi said the damage was a result of the United States dropping ‘bunker busters’ on key Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities.

Last week, American B-2 stealth bombers struck two of the sites using GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs, while a guided missile submarine launched Tomahawk cruise missiles at the third facility.

“We can’t fully assess, and no one can say exactly what the extent of the damage is. But we already know that, given the power of those weapons and the technical characteristics of a centrifuge, we know that these centrifuges are no longer operational," Grossi told French broadcaster, Radio France Internationale.

“These are machines with delicate positioning—there are rotors, there are parts—so the damage must have been total," he added.

The UN nuclear chief also said that Iran’s nuclear programme had suffered “enormous damage," although he stopped short of backing US President Donald Trump’s claim that Iran’s nuclear sites had been “obliterated."

“I think annihilated is too much," he said. “The attacks resulted in significant physical damage to Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow, where Iran concentrated most activities related to uranium enrichment and conversion."

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News world 'Given Power Of These Bombs': IAEA Chief Says Iran's Uranium Centrifuges Disable After US Strikes