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In Brief: How Close Is Iran to Building A Bomb?

June 5, 2024
In Brief: How Close Is Iran to Building A Bomb?
In Brief: How Close Is Iran to Building A Bomb?

In Brief: How Close Is Iran to Building A Bomb?

Eric Brewer, Toby Dalton, Naysan Rafati, and Nicole​​​​ Grajewski
June 5, 2024
Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran had increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels. Then, this week, the agency’s director general, Rafael Grossi, stated that the organization has “lost continuity of knowledge in relation to the production and inventory of [Iran’s] centrifuges, rotors and bellows, heavy water and uranium ore concentrate.” We asked four experts to tell us more about the state of Iran’s nuclear program and to answer one key question: how close is Iran to building nuclear weapons?Read more below. Eric Brewer Deputy Vice President, Nuclear Materials Security Program Nuclear Threat InitiativeThe latest reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency that document Iran’s nuclear program, while worrying, amount to incremental gains and don’t significantly change the already bleak picture of the past few years. That picture is one of continued Iranian advances in uranium enrichment and reduced access by international inspectors to Tehran’s nuclear activities. Tehran would need just days to convert that material to weapons-grade levels — something it could use in a bomb — and could produce enough for multiple weapons shortly thereafter, a drastic reduction from the one-year breakout timeline while the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was in place. Even if Iran produced weapons-grade uranium, it would still need several months to a year, and perhaps longer, to manufacture a weapon. Thankfully, according to the U.S. government, Iran is not working on these weaponization activities and has not decided to produce nuclear weapons.While Iran’s policy likely remains focused on developing a threshold capability short of a bomb, several events could push Iran to cross that threshold, including a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the severe degradation or dismantlement of one of its key proxy groups — which Tehran relies on as a deterrent — or the death of the current 85-year-old supreme leader. The prospect of achieving a deal to roll back Iran’s

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Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran had increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels. Then, this week, the agency’s director general, Rafael Grossi, stated that the organization has “lost continuity of knowledge in relation to the production and inventory of [Iran’s] centrifuges, rotors and bellows, heavy water and uranium ore concentrate.” We asked four experts to tell us more about the state of Iran’s nuclear program and to answer one key question: how close is Iran to building nuclear weapons?Read more below. Eric Brewer Deputy Vice President, Nuclear Materials Security Program Nuclear Threat InitiativeThe latest reports by the International Atomic

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