WASHINGTON: Iran can make enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb “in about 12 days,” a top US Defense Department official said on Tuesday, a year short of estimates it took during the implementation of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. not enough.
Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Cahill made the comments during a House hearing when pressed by a Republican lawmaker on why the Biden administration sought to revive the deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
“Because Iran’s nuclear progress since we left the JCPOA has been remarkable. In 2018, when the previous administration decided to leave the JCPOA, it took Iran about 12 months to produce a bomb’s worth of fissile material. day,” Cahill, the third-ranking Defense Department official, told lawmakers.
“And so I think there’s still the view that if you can resolve the issue diplomatically and put constraints on their nuclear program, that’s better than the other options. But at this point, The JCPOA is on ice,” Cahill added.
U.S. officials have repeatedly estimated Iran’s breakout time — how long it would take to obtain the fissile material for a bomb if it decided to — in weeks but not as specifically as Cahill.
While U.S. officials say Iran has moved closer to producing fissile material, they do not believe it has mastered bomb-making technology.
Under the 2015 deal, which then-US President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018, Iran reined in its nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.
Trump reimposed U.S. sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to resume nuclear activities and reviving U.S., European and Israeli concerns that Iran could acquire an atomic bomb. Iran denies any such ambitions.
The Biden administration has tried but failed to revive the deal over the past two years.
