Iran is not far from possessing an atomic bomb, the director of the UN nuclear watchdog said in an interview with Le Monde published on Wednesday, just hours before a visit to Tehran.
The chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, claimed that Iran still had a long way to go before getting the bomb but added, “They’re not far from it, you have to acknowledge.”
Grossi compared the creation of a nuclear weapon to a jigsaw puzzle, adding that Iran “has the pieces, and they could eventually put them together one day.”
Grossi was due to arrive in the country later on Wednesday to meet with senior officials.
The UN watchdog has been tasked with monitoring the country’s adherence to the 2015 nuclear deal, which failed when Donald Trump withdrew from it during his first term as US president.
