The IAEA’s chief has warned of dire consequences as West Jerusalem considers a strike on fortified Iranian nuclear sites
Israeli threats against Iran’s nuclear program have the potential to escalate into a “catastrophic” scenario, Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has said.
West Jerusalem has not ruled out the possibility of striking Tehran’s nuclear sites in the event that ongoing talks between the US and Iran break down. Despite simmering tensions between Israel and Iran, US President Donald Trump has reportedly warned his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu against taking any military action that could undermine his push for a deal to curb Iranian nuclear activities.
Israeli threats mean that “the Iranian thing has incredible potential to become catastrophic. If there is a failure in negotiation, this will imply most probably military action,” Grossi told Financial Times in an interview published on Friday.
No single precision strike could take out Iran’s entrenched nuclear targets, he added.
“The most sensitive things are half a mile underground – I have been there many times. To get there you take a spiral tunnel down, down, down,” Grossi said.
“Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon at this moment, but it has the material,” he said.
Grossi has previously expressed concern over Tehran’s growing enrichment activities.
Iran intends to prove that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Egyptian broadcaster Nile News in an interview published on Friday. It is “unthinkable” for Tehran to violate Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s religious ban on nuclear weapons, the top diplomat said.
Despite this, Iran will not accept any deal requiring it to give up its domestic enrichment capabilities, Araghchi said on Wednesday. “No enrichment, no deal. No nuclear weapons, we have a deal.”
During his first term, Trump unilaterally pulled the US out of the 2015 UN-backed Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, under which Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. Iran has since gradually increased its enrichment efforts.
Israel, which views Iran’s nuclear activities as a threat, has demanded it cease all enrichment.
The decades-long shadow war between the two nations twice escalated into direct missile strikes last year. Tensions have spiked sharply since the start of the Gaza conflict in 2023.