(Washington) Iran has the capability to produce fissile material for a nuclear weapon within “one to two weeks,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday.
“The current situation is not good. Iran, because of the end of the nuclear deal, instead of being at least a year away from having the capability to produce fissile material for a nuclear weapon, is now probably a week or two away from being able to do so,” he said at a security forum in Aspen, Colorado (west).
“Now, they have not developed a weapon, but it is something that we are monitoring very closely of course,” added the head of American diplomacy, repeating that “one or two weeks” was the estimated time frame for Iran to be able to produce these fissile materials for an atomic bomb.
“What we’ve seen in recent weeks and months is Iran moving forward with this nuclear program,” he further lamented, reiterating the United States’ goal of Iran never having a nuclear weapon and “favoring the diplomatic route” to achieve this.
In this regard, he criticized the decision of the previous Trump administration to withdraw in 2018 from the international Iranian nuclear deal concluded three years earlier and which aimed to restrict Iran’s nuclear activity in exchange for sanctions relief. Washington subsequently reimposed heavy sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Asked what the United States expected from Iranian President-elect Massoud Pezeshkian, Blinken said he was skeptical. “The reality is that the supreme leader continues to call the shots, so we don’t have high expectations, but we’ll see what he and his team do once they’re in office,” he said.