France's Intelligence Director Nicolas Lerner said Tuesday In an interview with the LCI television channel that Iran's nuclear program has suffered major setbacks due to recent airstrikes and "was hit hard and delayed by many months." However, he emphasized that Iran continues to hold a significant quantity of enriched uranium.
Lerner revealed that he was only informed of the US strike on the Fordo nuclear facility after it had taken place. "I was woken up shortly before 2 a.m. to be updated," he said. "France was not a partner in these military operations and received no prior warning."
According to Lerner, "We assess that every stage of the nuclear program suffered significant damage: the capacity to enrich uranium, convert it from gas to solid form, manufacture the weapon core, and launch it." Still, he cautioned, "Iran still possesses 450 kilograms of enriched uranium. A small portion may have been destroyed, but the majority remains under regime control."
Lerner warned of the potential for a covert Iranian nuclear program. "Even if Iran can no longer enrich uranium on the scale it once planned, it can still develop a smaller-scale capability in secret. The risk remains," he said. He stressed that France supports a diplomatic solution to the nuclear crisis.
