Israel and Iran continue to trade attacks as Donald Trump hints at possible regime change in Tehran.
aje.io
4m ago
(01:20 GMT)
How far will US strikes set back Iran’s nuclear programme?
Following the US’s attacks on Iran, Trump told the world that “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated”.
Iranian officials, however. have attempted to downplay the significance of the hits.
Speaking on state TV, Hassan Abedini, the deputy political director of Iran’s state broadcaster, said the three nuclear sites had been evacuated “a while ago” and that they “didn’t suffer a major blow because the materials had already been taken out”.
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, says it is likely Iran had taken precautionary actions ahead of the US attacks.
He said Iran’s most valuable nuclear asset is its stockpile of enriched uranium, and that “as long as they continue to have that, they still actually have very much a nuclear programme that still could be weaponised”.
Parsi added, “And I think we are going to start to hear from the Israelis in rather short order, that this was not the type of successful strike Trump has claimed, but they are going to start making the case that there needs to be a more ongoing bombing campaign against Iran.”
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US Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber performs a fly-over at Rosecrans Air National Guard Base in St. Joseph, Missouri, US, September 14, 2024 [File: Master Sgt Patrick Evenson/Handout via Reuters]