‘What is most important is to avoid a nuclear accident’ in Iran: IAEA chief Grossi • FRANCE 24
[Music] hello and welcome to Tetat France 24’s flagship interview show Our guest is Rafael Graci He is the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency and he joins us from Vienna Thank you very much Mr Graci My pleasure Thank you very much Israel has decided to strike Iran’s nuclear sites among other targets in the midst of what were ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran Uh do you regret that war has been chosen instead of negotiations i’m a diplomat and I always believe that uh there can always be diplomatic solution even for the most intractable problems But this is water under the bridge isn’t it we are in this situation and I think the important what is most most important is first of all from my perspective uh and my mission specific mission is to uh avoid a nuclear accident with serious radiological consequences This is one thing and of course to continue to support any negotiation including bilateral as I as we were trying to do uh between the United States and Iran If this process resumes right uh according to international law striking nuclear sites is illegal The Iranian ambassador to United Nations in Geneva this Wednesday said that indeed this was a danger This was a crime against uh humanity is it indeed illegal and how dangerous it is well these are two separate questions I think on the first one there is of course Jewish prudence to that effect Um including uh resolutions from the general conference of the IEA from times past when uh nuclear installations were attacked in context of different conflicts where the general conference of the IEA found that this was an act against international law So that is one thing The other thing that you are referring to is how dangerous is And this is where the the whole story becomes a bit more complex because what you have to consider uh in order to have an assessment is what is being attacked the amount of nuclear material that is inside the facility which is targeted and what would be the possible uh effects in terms of radiation uh leaks or or other And this would demand a place by place or facility by facility analysis if you if you wish Uh does this mean that obviously currently you don’t have access your inspectors on the ground obviously do not have access or information about the different sites and what’s going on inside We do we do have information about what is what is going on Uh and we have and we have been informing the IEA has been informing and updating the international community about every facility which has been targeted or attacked uh including the Natans um facility um is Fahan Foro and and today we have been informing about an additional one which has been hit So we do uh have the information uh in terms of access in times of war as you can expect all the facilities are closed So you cannot expect our inspectors who are still in Iran I I want to emphasize this who are still in Iran to have access to them because of an obvious situation The country is under attack Can you update us on the latest incident you mentioned an Israeli strike at a nuclear facility near Thran Can you tell us more about what happened what you know yes Apart from the the the ones that I mentioned in the beginning and which have been hit in the early stages of the of this campaign or of this attack Today we uh could confirm information about uh a facility that is a place in in a lo in a a town village called Karaj where um Iran was um manufacturing uh centrifuges and and parts and components for uh centrifuges Um and then uh another facility this one in Thran itself which was uh also involved in this in this activity So what we see here is um an attack on centrifuge producing capacity in the country as opposed to uh these are workshops basically All right So these are places where we know the first one Yes Karaj and for those who have been following this and I think we had a conversation about this maybe a couple of years ago This place Karaj was a place where a number of cameras um belonging to the IEA were disconnected and that was part of one of my several trips and negotiations uh with Iran to try to restore some of this monitoring capacity that we used to have because this place is very important uh when you have the centrifuge uh production capacity being affected uh this is of course very relevant in terms of future enrichment capabilities and and yes it has been very badly damaged as as of the one a little bit less but but considerable damage as well right uh you mentioned the Natan strike one of the first ones initially you said you’re not sure about the centrifuges being destroed destroyed Now you’re saying yes nearly all of them have been essentially destroyed That’s my first question And obviously everyone is wondering about uh the deeply uh and mount deep in the mountain of Fordo Do you think that a strike uh is coming including from the United States let let me let me give you uh clarity on on the different things that you are mentioning First on Foro in Foro there are two or more in fact uh enrichment um holes cascade holes where the centrifuges are located There is a an above ground or there was should I say an above ground facility which was completely destroyed there You mean what we Yes Natans and and then and then at the same place in Natans Um um initially what we assessed was that there with regards to the underground cascade halls that they were indirectly if I can put it like this affected because the whole electrical infrastructure feeding the entire compound was hit and destroyed And what you have when you have a situation like this is that is this um ultra centrifuges that are spinning at a very high velocity when there is a sudden um interruption of the outside power They are immediately damaged in a very bad way And there’s also some chemical reactions because there is gas there and when and and the gas turns into solid state I mean it would be a little bit of a technical complication to explain but just to say that it already from the beginning we assessed that there should have been a lot of damage Um but yesterday we refined we didn’t contradict uh our first assessment We refined it by saying that uh we had identified um evidence of um direct projectile um um um signals or signs uh on the surface of um these underground cascade holes So uh there has been also an attempt and perhaps more than an attempt to um cause direct uh damage in a kinetic uh fashion directly into the place So this is one thing all right this is natams when it comes to Isvahan which is another very important nuclear installation nuclear facility there have there has been three uh important or four important uh buildings which have been destroyed a fuel plate fabrication one a conversion facility uh lab chemical lab um but no um clear damage as to the possibility there of some additional underground facilities on that we cannot confirm Fodo which is the one where the most of the underground enrichment capacities exist do not seem to show evidence of um uh important attack or attack at all So we continue to assess that here there has been if anything something something very limited but nothing important and then what I have been mentioning to you now on this centrifuge production facility in Karaj and in teran So this is the whole picture uh as as we speak Just uh very quickly the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu essentially is saying uh that you the US got the intelligence wrong that Iran was much closer to building a nuclear weapon What do you say to that i will not dispute that I don’t know And I can tell you that what we have is not wrong Maybe they have something better I cannot tell you that because I’m not familiar with that what we what we see and don’t let’s not forget that we are the ones inspecting in Iran What we see is something which is by the way not a secret We have been informing um the international community I had a report just a few days ago indicating that uh whereas Iran uh has already accumulated a very important amount of uranium and reached at a very high level 60% which is very close to military level which is 90% We did not have a picture that would allow us to say yes they are manufacturing a nuclear weapon Um so here I think we have to be very precise in what we say Um we understand uh what others may be saying from a national perspective with a national interest from the IEA perspective We need to be objective and what we said is this is was this was a case of concern It is the only country in the world that is accumulating this um this huge amounts of uranium enriched at this very high level Um but at the same time we do not have any credible indication that there is a bomb there Others may have a different opinion Rafael Graci that’s all we have time for I want to thank you very much for being our guest here on France 24 and thank you all for watching this edition of Tetat [Music]
As Israel’s strikes on Iran target several Iranian nuclear facilities, FRANCE 24 spoke to Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). “What is most important”, he said, “is to avoid a nuclear accident with serious radiological consequences”. Grossi also urged support for “any negotiation, including bilateral, between the United States and Iran”.
#IAEA #RafaelGrossi #IsraelIranwar
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30 comments
I firmly believe Trump wants an "accident ".
Diplomacy can't happen with a terrorist regime
He collaborated with Israel to say Iran was closer to a weapon than the truth. He is directly involved with this war happening right now.
how many years ? too much BS
If this guy had done his job we wouldnt be here
Why this American agent is now speaking, you know Iran doesn't have nuclear weapons and no near nuclear bomb 💣, but you deliberately
How many international laws has isreal broken,sorry have not got enough fingers to count.
Why IAEA does not inspect israeli nuclear facilities?
When Ukraine nuclear plant was attacked you will this American agent shouting every where, but mute in Iran, evil company
See YouTube has Deleted one off my posts,YouTube works for Israel.
I usually enjoy interviews with the IAEA’s Grossing, but here he says very little. In a week we may know more.
He's just another tool, likely blackmailed by Mossad—nothing he says can be taken seriously."
Are all nuclear sites on earth regulated?
For a power plant only 3-5% enrichment is required. Enriching to 60% is clear evidence they are attempting to build an atomic bomb. How naive can you get ????
At this point, would you really consider a breach an accident?
Who are you to predict future the lier
Grossi is the Colin Powell of the Iran conflict.
Why are we not inspecting Israel’s nuclear weapons?
He’s the reason our world might likely explode 💥
After giving iran nuclear technology
Attacking nuclear facilities is a war crime. No condemnation of this act by IAEA or EU. The level of hypocrisy!
This time word are polirise, America group vs Russia and China
Very good interview. He concludes in a politically correct way like Messi, if other countries believe that Iran is close to the bomb it is fine with me. Nice touch.
Rafael Grossi is a remarkable man in an extremely difficult position & whilst having to remain impartial.
If Israel seriously wants to make its case that Iran was on the point of making nuclear weapons they have to show the evidence to Rafael Grossi, otherwise it's just another case of "Believe me bro" & they lose all credibility.
It is imprecise for him to state that Iran is the only country accumulating large amounts of enriched uranium when the IAEA does not have access to India, Israel, Pakistan, or North Korea.
It's never been about nuke! It's about economic dominate.
What a coward spy. No remorse that he was instrumental in causing death and destruction.
Every country should develop their own newclear weapons, otherwise you will be humilated like President Selenski ( by USA). I'm glad that China has powerful newclear weapons and be treated with some degree of respect
Did he just say an additional one which has been hit at three minutes 3:42 seconds?!!
Whaaaa?!? how was it? We don’t hear about that in the United States?!?
Natanz, ok but there’s no radioactive ☢️ fallout from the attacks that has happened from Israel bombs on Iran? So it’s only a crime against humanity if there’s radioactive fallout, I would assume?
Spy for US and Israel betraying his kob
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