US says Iran could produce fissile material to create a nuclear bomb “in about 12 days”

Tehran says claims of enrichment above 84 percent concern “a particle that cannot be seen even under a microscope.”

March 1 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Pentagon has said Iran could produce fissile material to produce a nuclear bomb “in about 12 days” amid growing international concerns over Iran’s nuclear program and deadlocked talks to revive the 2015 deal.

The US Deputy Secretary of Defense for Policy, Colin Kahl, has indicated that the Iranian authorities have made “remarkable” progress in their nuclear program since 2018, when the Administration of then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the agreement. .

“In 2018, when the previous Administration decided to abandon the nuclear agreement, Iran would have needed twelve months to produce fissile material for a bomb,” he said, before insisting that “now it would take about twelve days,” according to the chain of US television .

Kahl’s words come shortly after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) indicated that Iran enriched uranium to 83.7 percent at the Fordo plant, well above the 60 percent agreed in the 2015 agreement. , but below that needed to make nuclear weapons.

“Iran informed the UN agency that unwanted fluctuations in enrichment levels may have occurred. Discussions to clarify the matter are ongoing,” says an agency report collected by the Bloomberg news agency.

However, the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Agency (AEOA), Mohamad Eslami, has stressed that the differences have been resolved and has stressed that the investigation carried out by a team from the international organization reveals that there were no “specific deviations “.

“These accusations have been raised for 20 years and the negotiations led to the nuclear agreement,” he stated, before stressing that the claims regarding an enrichment greater than 84 percent concern “a particle that cannot be seen or with microscope”.

“What is important is the amount of material that is stored after production, which (IAEA) inspectors have seen and confirmed that it is not greater than 60 percent (enrichment),” he argued, as collected by the Iranian Mehr News Agency.

In fact, the AEOI spokesman, Behruz Kamalvandi, stated last week that the existence of these particles is common during the uranium enrichment process and has stressed that “what matters is the final product and Iran has never embarked on enrichment to a level greater than 60 percent.

“The IAEA is well aware that such situations occur during work. In several cases in the past, various levels of enrichment were observed and accounted for. This last matter will also be clarified,” Kamalvandi said then.

On the other hand, Eslami has affirmed that the future visit to Iran by the IAEA director general, Rafael Grossi, could help unlock the talks for the reactivation of the 2015 agreement, although for the moment there is no set date for the trip. , which has not been confirmed by the international organization.