Nuclear facilities 'badly damaged,' Iran's foreign ministry says

The Associated Press

· Posted: Jun 25, 2025 7:20 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, confirmed Wednesday that the country's atomic facilities had been "badly damaged" successful American strikes implicit the weekend.

Speaking connected Al Jazeera, Baghaei refused to spell into item but conceded the strikes connected Sunday by American B-2 bombers utilizing bunker-buster bombs had been significant.

"Our atomic installations person been severely damaged, that's for sure," helium said.

Israeli subject spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said Wednesday his country's appraisal was besides that Iran's atomic facilities had been "significantly damaged" and its atomic programme "set it backmost by years."

U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters astatine a NATO acme successful the Netherlands that it was going "very well."

"They're not going to person a weaponry and they're not going to enrich," Trump said astir Iran.

Trump astatine different constituent compared the strikes to the American atomic bombs dropped connected Japan at the end to the Second World War successful 1945.

"I don't privation to usage an illustration of Hiroshima, I don't privation to usage an illustration of Nagasaki, but that was fundamentally the aforesaid thing. That ended that war. This ended the war," Trump said. 

The president took umbrage astatine reports that emerged Tuesday, which indicated that a study issued by the U.S. Defence Intelligence Agency suggested Iran's atomic programme whitethorn person been acceptable backmost lone by a substance of months.

Anger successful Tehran astatine UN atomic agency

Meanwhile, Iran's parliament approved a measure connected Wednesday to suspend co-operation with the UN nuclear watchdog, state-affiliated outlet Nournews reported.

The move, which needs the last support of Iran's Supreme National Security Council to beryllium enforced, Nournews said.

Baghaei seemed to suggest Iran mightiness not unopen retired IAEA inspectors for good, noting that the measure earlier parliament lone talks of suspending enactment with the agency, not ending it. He besides insisted Iran has the close to prosecute a atomic vigor program.

WATCH | Examining Iran's claims astir its uranium enrichment program:

In Vienna, IAEA director wide Rafael Mariano Grossi said helium had already written to Iran to sermon resuming inspections of their facilities.

Among different things, Iran claims to person moved its highly enriched uranium up of the American strikes and Grossi said his inspectors needed to reassess the country's stockpiles.

"We request to return," helium said. "We request to engage."

Grossi said helium could not speculate connected however atrocious the harm was but that Iran's atomic capabilities were good known.

"The method cognition is there, and the concern capableness is there," helium said. "That, nary 1 tin deny, truthful we request to enactment unneurotic with them."

Earlier this week, the Iranian parliament's nationalist information committee approved the bill's wide outline and the committee's spokesperson, Ebrahim Rezaei, said the measure would suspend the installation of surveillance cameras, inspections and filing of reports to the IAEA.

Following the Israeli attacks connected its atomic sites, and U.S. bombing of underground Iranian atomic facilities astatine the weekend, the Iranian authorities besides faces calls to bounds the country's commitments to the atomic non-proliferation regime.

In an interrogation with Qatar's Al-Araby Al-Jadeed connected Tuesday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said: "I deliberation that our presumption connected our atomic programme and the non-proliferation authorities volition witnesser changes, but it is not imaginable to accidental successful what direction."