IAEA chief relays Iran warning against Israeli strikes on nuclear facilities

CAIRO (Reuters) -International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi said Iranians warned him that an Israel strike on the country's nuclear facilities could cause Iran to be more determined about developing a nuclear weapon, according to an interview broadcast and published on Monday.

“A strike could potentially have an amalgamating effect, solidifying Iran’s determination – I will say it plainly – to pursue a nuclear weapon or withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,” Grossi said in the interview, published on the Jerusalem Post website and broadcast on i24 TV on Monday.

Grossi, however, doubted that Israel would strike Tehran's nuclear facilities, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The Iranian nuclear program "runs wide and deep," Grossi told the Jerusalem Post. "Disrupting them would require overwhelming and devastating force."

Tehran and Washington have recently engaged in Oman-mediated nuclear talks. Iran is set to hand a counter-proposal for a nuclear deal to the United States via Oman, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday, in response to a U.S. offer that Tehran deems "unacceptable".

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump said he had warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to take actions that could disrupt nuclear talks with Iran.

"I told him this would be inappropriate to do right now because we're very close to a solution now," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "That could change at any moment."

Trump and Netanyahu are expected to speak over the phone on Monday.

(Reporting by Jaidaa Taha, Francois Murphy and Emily Rose; Editing by Leslie Adler)