 "Iran's nuclear weapon breakout is down to 1-2 weeks, Blinken issues stark warning")
Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Photo- AP
Amid the brewing tensions in the Middle East, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Iran’s nuclear weapon breakout time is probably down to just one or two weeks. The breakout time refers to the time needed to produce enough weapons-grade material to develop a nuclear warhead.
This was the shortest breakout time assessment given by a US official over the matter. The comments from Blinken came amid reports that Iran is boosting its production of fissile material. “Where we are now is not in a good place,” the top US diplomat said at the Aspen Security Forum Friday, CNN reported.
“Iran, because the nuclear agreement was thrown out, instead of being at least a year away from having the breakout capacity of producing fissile material for a nuclear weapon, is now probably one or two weeks away from doing that,” he said. “They haven’t produced a weapon itself, but that’s something of course that we track very, very carefully,” the US diplomat furthered.
So what’s America’s plan?
Blinken mentioned that the policy of the United States is to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. He insisted that US President Joe Biden’s administration plans to accomplish their aims through diplomacy. The comments from Blinken came a year after a top US Defense Department official said that Iran could now produce “one bomb’s worth of fissile material” in “about 12 days.”
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