The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium is likely to remain intact despite the intense bombardment of the country from Israeli and U.S. forces. 

“This program is a very vast program,” said International Atomic Energy Director Rafael Grossi. At the end of this … the material will still be there. The enrichment capacities will be there. We will have to go back to some form of negotiation.”

Grossi said that the fact that most parts of the Iranian nuclear program are hidden deep underground, unreachable by areal bombardment. 

Grossi, an Argentinian, is a candidate to replace António Guterres, whose term as the ninth United Nations secretary general expires at the end of this year. But he has indicated he would continue to work as IAED director during the selection process for the tenth UN secretary general. 

In his comments on Iran’s nuclear program, Grossi stressed he was not giving Israel or the U.S. military advice and, he said that his remarks were a pure “technical assessment” of the Iranian program.