JERUSALEM 鈥 Following 12 days of conflict, President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a triumph over Iran鈥檚 nuclear program.
Trump stated that three nuclear facilities were destroyed, while Netanyahu mentioned that Israel had eliminated a critical dual threat: in both the nuclear field and ballistic missiles. These accomplishments, he noted, were something that the U.N.鈥檚 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had not achieved in nearly two decades of overseeing Iran鈥檚 nuclear endeavors.
Dr. Or Rabinowitz, an expert in nuclear proliferation from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a visiting professor at Stanford University, conveyed to Fox News Digital that the IAEA alone cannot prevent a nation from channeling nuclear materials and technology from its civilian sector to its military sector.
Despite the U.S. and Israel鈥檚 successful use of force, the IAEA has held back from commending their actions.
At an emergency session of the agency鈥檚 board members on Monday, Rafael Grossi, the IAEA鈥檚 Director General, was still urging diplomacy and warning that fighting risked 鈥渃ollapsing the global nuclear Non Proliferation regime.鈥
鈥淭here is still a path for diplomacy, we must take it, otherwise violence and destruction could reach unimaginable levels, and the global Non-Proliferation regime that has underpinned international security for more than half a century could crumble and fall,鈥 he said, without a word about Iran鈥檚 lack of transparency and its clear violation of international agreements over more than two decades.
But on Tuesday, two days after the U.S. military carried out massive precision strikes on three key nuclear sites in Iran, Grossi told Fox News鈥 Martha MacCallum that his agency did not know where nearly 900 pounds of potentially enriched uranium is now located, after Iranian officials said it had been removed for protective measures ahead of the US strikes on nuclear facilities in Iran.
鈥淟ike all the international bodies who have been condemning US and Israeli action, these organizations exist for the purpose solely of diplomacy,鈥 Mendoza said, adding, 鈥淭he agency doesn鈥檛 have any military function. It has no recourse to it. It can鈥檛 call for it, so, if you think about it, all they鈥檙e doing is merely protecting their position within the international system.鈥
Requests for a response from the IAEA were not immediately answered on Wednesday.