Follow-up – Al-Rasheed
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Friday that Iran is capable of producing fissile material for a nuclear bomb within a week or two.
“The status quo is not good,” Blinken said. “Iran, because of the expiration of the nuclear deal, instead of being at least a year away from being able to produce fissile material for a nuclear bomb, is now probably a week or two away from being able to do so.”
He explained that Tehran “has not developed a weapon yet, but we are of course closely monitoring this matter.”
Blinken reiterated that “a week or two” is the estimated time for Iran to be able to produce this fissile material with the aim of making a nuclear bomb.
“What we’ve seen in recent weeks and months is that Iran is moving forward with this program,” he said, reiterating the US goal of Iran never having a nuclear weapon and “preferring the diplomatic path” to achieve that.
In this regard, Blinken criticized the decision of the administration of former US President Donald Trump to unilaterally withdraw in 2018 from the Iranian nuclear agreement, which was concluded in 2015 between Iran and major powers and allowed the lifting of economic sanctions on Tehran in exchange for restricting its nuclear activities. Washington then reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran.
Asked what the United States expects from Iranian President-elect Masoud Pezeshkian, Blinken said, “The reality is that the Supreme Leader continues to make all the decisions, so we don’t have high expectations, but we will see what he and his team do once they take office.”
