Iran’s Foreign Minister Says Nuclear Facilities ‘Seriously Damaged’

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on Thursday that the country’s nuclear facilities had sustained “significant and serious damages,” the first official acknowledgment of the extent of the damages caused by U.S. strikes on three nuclear sites.

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran was still “surveilling the damages and losses,” Mr. Araghchi said in an interview with Iran’s state television. But, he added, “I have to say, the losses have not been small, and our facilities have been seriously damaged.”

That assessment painted a much grimmer picture than that laid out earlier on Thursday by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in his first public statement since the U.S. attack.

In a prerecorded video, Mr. Khamenei said that the attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities “were unable to do anything important,” adding that President Trump’s claims that the strikes “obliterated” the nuclear sites were “exaggerated.”

Mr. Araghchi also suggested Iran might stop cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, and threw into question whether inspectors from the agency would be allowed to access the country’s nuclear sites. He said Iran would not welcome a visit by the agency’s director, Rafael Grossi, at this time.

On Thursday, Iran’s Guardian Council, which has veto power over legislation in the country, approved a bill passed by hard-liners in Parliament that would effectively ban all cooperation with the I.A.E.A. in retaliation for the bombing by the United States of the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities over the weekend.