IAEA chief says Iran’s uranium stockpile may still be under rubble

Ajouté : 2026-04-30

[00:00:00]The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog says much of Iran's uranium stockpile is likely still buried beneath the rubble of a facility bombed by the United States last year. Raphael Graci made the remarks at the United Nations where a month-long conference is underway to strengthen efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. Kristen Salumi was there.

[00:00:21]How much of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile remains? Where is it located?

[00:00:27]And what will ultimately become of it?

[00:00:29]These are questions hanging over the nuclear non-prololiferation conference here at the United Nations this year.

[00:00:35]And earlier I had a chance to ask the head of the UN's nuclear agency some questions. It was after the United States pulled out of the JCPOA that Iran began enriching uranium at higher levels. Correct.

[00:00:50]>> Higher than 3.67.

[00:00:52]Presumably, according to the United States, that uranium is under the rubble still. Uh it was buried in their attacks. Is that a concern still for the global community? Could that uranium be retrieved and repurposed or are you confident that it is um out of reach?

[00:01:14]>> No, no, no. It should be addressed. this issue uh in whichever state it is. It's a lot of uh highly enriched nuclear material at close to weapon grade which we were inspecting up until um June 2025.

[00:01:35]Obviously, one has to be has to apply common sense uh to the whole situation.

[00:01:40]There is there is no peace. there is only a ceasefire and there is probably this difficulty in accessing until my inspectors can go and verify that there is no access we we cannot confirm that this is a situation we are being told that this is the case >> Iran's ambassador to the United Nations for his part accused the United States of using the conference to distract from its own treaty violations saying on X the UN security council the IAEA director general and the board of governors not only failed failed to condemn these illegal attacks, but most regrettably took actions that reversed the role of the victim and the aggressor. Because of the conflict in the Middle East and ongoing global tensions, expectations that any international agreement will be reached at this conference are low. Kristen Salumi, Alazera, the United Nations.