Iran Could Make Materials For A Nuclear Bomb In Just 12 DAYS, US Warns

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NUCLEAR BOMB: IRAN could make enough material for one nuclear bomb in ‘about 12 days,’ a top US Defense Department official warned

Iran could make enough material for one nuclear bomb in ‘about 12 days,’ a top US Defense Department official warned on Tuesday, a dramatic fall from the estimated one year it would have taken while the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was in effect.

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl made the comment to a House of Representatives hearing when asked why US President Joe Biden’s administration had sought to revive the the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) deal.

Another defence department official – Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Dana Stroul – described the Islamic Republic as a ‘global threat’, in particular because of its growing military alliance with Russia, whose armies are currently invading Ukraine.

‘We are now at a point where Iranian threats are no longer specific to the Middle East, but a global challenge,’ she told reporters on Tesday.

‘It is reasonable to expect that the tactics, techniques and procedures that the Iranians are learning and perfecting in Ukraine will one day come back to our partners in the Middle East, which is why we are increasing cooperation now.’

This corporation includes ‘intelligence sharing, understanding these networks and increasing our collective defensive capabilities so that we are prepared to counter these threats in the region,’ she added.

US officials have repeatedly estimated Iran’s breakout time – how long it would take to acquire the fissile material for one bomb if it decided to – at weeks.

None, however, have been as specific as Kahl was on Tuesday.

But while US officials say Iran has grown closer to producing fissile material they do not believe it has mastered the technology to actually build a bomb.

Under the 2015 deal, which then-US President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018, Iran had reined in its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions.

Trump reimposed US sanctions on Iran, leading Tehran to resume previously banned nuclear work and reviving US, European and Israeli fears that Iran may seek an atomic bomb. Iran denies any such ambition.

The currently administration in the White House has tried but failed to revive the pact over the last two years.

Kahl’s comments came as a report – seen by the Associated Press on Tuesday – said inspectors from the UN’s nuclear watchdog found uranium particles enriched up to 83.7 percent in Iran’s underground Fordo nuclear site.

That’s even as Tehran already faces internal unrest and Western anger over sending bomb-carrying drones to Russia for its war on Ukraine, and over its brutal crackdown on demonstrations over the death of Mahsa Amini

The IAEA report only speaks about ‘particles,’ suggesting that Iran isn’t building a stockpile of uranium enriched above 60 percent – the level it has been enriching at for some time.

The IAEA report described inspectors discovering on January 21 that two cascades of IR-6 centrifuges at Iran’s Fordo facility had been configured in a way ‘substantially different’ to what had been previously declared.

The IAEA took samples the following day, which showed particles up to 83.7 percent purity, the report said – just short of weapons-grade levels of 90 percent.

‘Iran informed the agency that `unintended fluctuations’ in enrichment levels may have occurred during the transition period,’ the IAEA report said. ‘Discussions between the agency and Iran to clarify the matter are ongoing.’

The IAEA report also said that it would ‘further increase the frequency and intensity of agency verification activities’ at Fordo after the discovery.

Iran’s mission to the UN told the AP that Massimo Aparo, a top IAEA official, visited the Islamic Republic last week ‘and checked the alleged enrichment rate.’

Source:- Daily Mail