Khaberni - The politician and diplomat, and former Jordanian ambassador to international organizations in Vienna, and former member of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Makram Al-Qaisi, said on Monday that the backbone of the Iranian nuclear program is not only geographical locations, but also scientists, trained personnel, and the massive infrastructure of the program, in addition to the capability to enrich and centrifuges, which has brought Iran to the nuclear threshold, meaning they are waiting for the political decision to transform their nuclear program from peaceful to military.
He said, speaking to "Al-Mamlaka," that Iran reaching the nuclear threshold and entering the phase of manufacturing a nuclear weapon means there will be an arms race with several countries such as Turkey, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.
He added: "We in the Middle East must be very cautious about any country's pursuit to possess nuclear weapons, as this could lead to instability and an arms race".
Al-Qaisi stressed that it is in everyone's interest that there is no arms race in the region, and therefore all facilities should be subjected to guarantee agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the additional protocol, whereby there will be routine inspections, sample collection, and camera installations.
Al-Qaisi added that, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran owns 22 nuclear sites, some are peaceful and some are suspect.
He pointed out that Iran has 440.9 kg of uranium enriched to 60%, which indicates that Iran aspires to develop it to 90%, the degree of manufacturing nuclear weapons.
Al-Qaisi believes that Iran could reach an enrichment level of 60% to 90% within months, which means it is reaching nuclear weapons.
Regarding the possibility of Iran reaching 90% enrichment without announcing it, Al-Qaisi doubted that Iran has reached this goal yet.
He added that the most important nuclear facilities in Iran include the Fordow uranium enrichment site, built about 80 meters underground, in addition to the Natanz nuclear facility.
He noted that there are decisions by the Board of Governors of the IAEA requesting Iran to halt its enrichment program until the facilities are opened up to IAEA inspectors, which has not happened.
Al-Qaisi also mentioned that there is a research reactor in Tehran and another in Isfahan specialized in converting uranium to nuclear fuel.
He said that Iran's Bushehr reactor is peaceful, and therefore it was not targeted.
Iran signed an agreement regarding its nuclear program in 2015 with France, Germany, the United Kingdom, as well as Russia, China, and the United States.
The 2015 agreement set a cap for uranium enrichment at 3.67%. However, the Islamic Republic is currently enriching at a level of 60%, not far from the 90% required for military use.
Tehran asserts that its nuclear program is designated solely for civilian uses, emphasizing that its right to continue enriching uranium for peaceful purposes is "non-negotiable," but it says it is willing to accept temporary restrictions on the enrichment rate and level.
In 2018, during his first term, US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew his country from the 2015 agreement, reimposing sanctions on the Islamic Republic, including secondary measures targeting countries that purchase Iranian oil, as part of a policy of "maximum pressure" he applied against Tehran.
For its part, Iran remained fully compliant with the terms of the agreement for a year after the US withdrawal from it, before gradually stopping compliance with its contents.
Since Saturday, February 28, Israel and the United States have been conducting airstrikes on Iran, resulting in the death of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Since then, Tehran has been retaliating against Israel and countries in the region with missiles and drones.
Uranium enrichment
At the time Israel began its attacks in June 2025, Iran had three operative stations for uranium enrichment:
The fuel enrichment plant in Natanz
A vast underground facility designed to house 50,000 centrifuges, which are the machines that enrich uranium.
There have always been speculations among military experts about whether Israeli air strikes could destroy the facility given its deep underground location.
The latest count shows that there are about 17,000 centrifuges there, of which approximately 13,500 are operational, enriching uranium to up to 5%.
The experimental fuel enrichment plant in Natanz
The smallest of the three enrichment plants, and because it is above ground, it was the easiest target for Israel among the enrichment stations. This plant has long been a center for research and development, using fewer centrifuges compared to other plants, often connected in smaller groups known as cascades.
However, it had two interconnected full-size chains, each containing up to 164 advanced centrifuges, enriching uranium to 60%. Regardless, there were only 201 operational centrifuges in the experimental uranium enrichment plant enriching up to 2%.
Most of the research and development work of the experimental plant was recently moved to the underground nuclear fuel enrichment plant in Natanz, where more than a thousand advanced centrifuges are operating to enrich uranium to 5%.
The Fordow fuel enrichment plant
Although only about two thousand centrifuges operate at the Fordow fuel enrichment plant, it produces the vast majority of Iran's enriched uranium to 60% using about the same number of centrifuges as those operating in the Natanz experimental enrichment plant, as it relies on uranium enriched to 20% in those cascades compared to 5% in the Natanz experimental plant.
Therefore, Fordow produced 166.6 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%. According to the "International Atomic Energy Agency" scale, this is theoretically sufficient, if further enriched, for just under four nuclear weapons, compared to about 19.2 kilograms in the experimental nuclear fuel enrichment plant, which is less than half the amount needed for a bomb.
