Iran is edging closer to nuclear weapons capability and Teheran is rapidly accumulating enriched uranium, “some of it very close to weapons grade”, Washington Post newspaper said on Wednesday quoting officials who fear that a “bomb could be a short dash away.” The latest development comes amid heightened tension in West Asia and six years after the Donald Trump administration withdrew from the Iran-US nuclear accord.
“While Iran says it has no plans to make nuclear weapons, it now has a supply of highly enriched uranium that could be converted to weapons-grade fuel for at least three bombs in a time frame ranging from a few days to a few weeks,” the newspaper quoted current and former officials as saying.
“The making of a crude nuclear device could follow in as little as six months after a decision is made, while overcoming the challenges of building a nuclear warhead deliverable by a missile would take longer, perhaps two years or more,” the newspaper said in an exclusive report. The article said that inspectors during their latest visit in Feb to Fordow complex – Iran’s nuclear complex – witnessed “frenzied activity.”
“More worryingly, Fordow was scaling up production of a more dangerous form of nuclear fuel – a kind of highly enriched uranium, just shy of weapons grade,” according to the report. “Iranian officials in charge of the plant, meanwhile, had begun talking openly about achieving “deterrence,” suggesting that Tehran now had everything it needed to build a bomb if it chose,” it added.
The paper said it had interviewed officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency and “more than a dozen current and former US and European intelligence and security officials” and “the emerging view is one of Iran advancing slowly but confidently, accumulating the means for a future weapon while making no overt move to build one.” Majority of the officials had spoken to WaPo on the condition of anonymity.