US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that Iran could produce fissile material for a nuclear bomb “within a week or two.”
“Where we are now is not in a good place,” Blinken stated at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
He explained that, due to the termination of the nuclear agreement, Iran, which previously was at least a year away from being able to produce fissile material for a nuclear bomb, is now potentially just a week or two away.
Blinken emphasized that although Tehran has not yet developed a nuclear weapon, the situation is being closely monitored.
“They haven’t produced a weapon itself, but that’s something of course that we track very, very carefully,” Blinken reportedly said, reaffirming the US commitment to preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and expressing a preference for a diplomatic solution.
Over a year ago, a top US Defense Department official stated that Iran could now produce “one bomb’s worth of fissile material” in “about 12 days.”
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According to CNN, the Biden administration spent over a year in indirect negotiations with Iran, aiming to revive the Iran nuclear deal, which the US exited in 2018 during the Trump administration.
These efforts failed in late 2022, as the US accused Iran of making “unreasonable” demands concerning a probe by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a UN nuclear watchdog, into unexplained traces of uranium found at undisclosed Iranian sites. In the ensuing months, the administration maintained that the Iran nuclear deal was “not on the agenda.”
Iran’s new president has suggested they are open to engagement with the West.
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However, a senior State Department official reportedly told CNN that they no longer believe a return to the nuclear deal is possible because Iran has engaged in escalatory acts since talks broke down.
“We’re in a very different world, a lot of time has elapsed, Iran has done a lot of things that make a return to JCPOA non-viable,” the official said.
(PC, AJA)
It now appears that the US is incapable of accepting responsibility for its mistakes, such as withdrawing from the JCPOA. Give them a little time and they will be unable to accept responsibility for their debts.
The Iranians only developed enrichment technology as a way to bring the Americans back to the negotiating table. There is still not the will nor the permission from the government to continue development. In other words, Blinken is mouthing Israeli propaganda, as usual.
The Iranians decided in 2003 to not build nuclear weapons. They enrich to only 20% to use for medical isotopes and energy. Anthony Blinkin in my opinion is an idiot. Why can’t the US EVER have a real diplomat in the State Department? They know how only to threaten. That’s not diplomacy. Why shouldn’t Iran have nuclear weapons? Israel does. The US does. Israel has tried, by lies, to drag athe US onto bombing Iran for decades. Israel & the US are the two most feared and hated countries on earth.