Sima Shine, a former senior staffer at Mossad and expert on Iran’s nuclear programme, has told the Telegraph that Iran is likely to have hidden thousands of centrifuges from air strikes and retains the ability to build a nuclear bomb.
She said: “I’m sure they have a hidden place somewhere with some hundreds, if not thousands of centrifuge[s] and they have material all there in several places all over Iran.
“They cannot do anything now, tomorrow, but in the future, they have all the capabilities [to build a bomb]”.
Her statements contradict recent declarations by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, who have both confidently claimed to have destroyed Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Speaking in televised address from the Oval Office on Sunday, following America’s strikes on Iran’s Fordow nuclear plant, Trump said: "The strikes were a spectacular military success.
"Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated."
He followed this up with a post on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, saying: "It was my great honor to Destroy All Nuclear facilities & capability, and then, STOP THE WAR!"
Netanyahu has appeared similarly satisfied with the results of the war so far. In a statement released by the Israeli government on Tuesday morning, he was quoted as saying: “Israel has eliminated a dual, immediate existential threat – both in the nuclear field and in the realm of ballistic missiles."
It comes as the head of the Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization has downplayed the damage caused by recent Israeli and American airstrikes and said the regime plans to push on with its nuclear programme.
“We planned to avoid any interruption in the nuclear industry process,” Mohammad Eslami told the state-run Mehr news agency in an interview on Tuesday.
“Preparations for the revival [of the nuclear programme] were foreseen in advance, and our plan is to not allow any interruption in the production and service process,” he added.
