We have heard this before, and it (apparently) did not turn out to be true. On the other hand, that doesn’t in itself mean that it isn’t true this time. Kahl is trying to make a case for the disastrous Iran nuclear deal, and is claiming that it actually stymied Iran’s efforts to make a nuclear bomb. It actually did nothing of the kind, as I explain in The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Iran. Thus his claims must be taken with a large grain of salt.
“Iran can make fissile material for a bomb ‘in about 12 days’ – US official,” Reuters, March 1, 2023:
Iran could make enough fissile for one nuclear bomb in “about 12 days,” a top US Defense Department official said on Tuesday, down from the estimated one year it would have taken while the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was in effect.
Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl made the comment to a House of Representatives hearing when pressed by a Republican lawmaker why the Biden administration had 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. Back in 2018, when the previous administration decided to leave the JCPOA it would have taken Iran about 12 months to produce one bomb’s worth of fissile material. Now it would take about 12 days,” Kahl, the third-ranking Defense Department official, told lawmakers.
“And so I think there is still the view that if you could resolve this issue diplomatically and put constraints back on their nuclear program, it is better than the other options. But right now, the JCPOA is on ice,” Kahl added.
US officials have repeatedly estimated Iran’s breakout time – how long it would take to acquire the fissile material for one bomb if it decided to – at weeks but have not been as specific as Kahl was.
While US officials say Iran has grown closer to producing fissile material, they do not believe it has mastered the technology to actually build a bomb….
Walter Sieruk says
On the topic of Iran that hoax of a deal that Joe Biden that made with that hostile ant-America Islamic tyranny of Iran exposes just how horrendously terribly treasonous Biden actually is.
That “president” pretender Biden is largely responsible for the gains that America’s enemy regime of Iran obtaining it’s Islamic sinister jihad goal of having nuclear weapons.
Traitor Biden had , is and still continuing to aid the enemy in this , not officially declared by Congress , but also real now type of “cold war” with the despots of Iran.
Joe Biden is either an incompetent feeble -minded fool or a traitorous treasonous villain.
Which even the case with him, Biden by giving away everything to those tyrants of that Islamic regime of Iran who such spiteful enemies of the United States that they publicly refer to her as “the Great Satan” and likewise brainwash and then incite the Iranian people to chant, over and over again “Death to America” reveals much about the sinister and insidious character of subversive creepy old Joe.
Therefore Biden by appeasing supporting and further upholding that anti-American vicious and hostile “mullah regime” has to be a very evil, un-American very despicable and dangerous man.
Walter Sieruk says
The ancient Greek Philosopher, Plato, did have a good valid point when he had written “The measure of a man is what he does with power.”
When applying that wise statement to Joe Biden, his “measure” is more than lacking, it’s outright terrible.
As seen by his giving in to the arrogant demands of the aggressive and hostile anti-American , anti-Israel Islamic regime of Iran giving those in power in that vicious tyranny everything they want, including funds and other resources for them to manufacture and construct nuclear weapons.
Westman says
The popular notion that it requires 90% purity of U235 to make a nuclear bomb has no basis in fact. Iran is already at 83%. https://news.yahoo.com/nuclear-watchdog-says-found-uranium-070031061.html
“Low-enriched uranium (LEU) contains between 0.7 percent and 20 percent uranium-235, and highly enriched uranium (HEU) contains 20 percent or more uranium-235. LEU is not directly usable for weapons. HEU produced for weapons (“weapon-grade” uranium) is typically enriched to 90 percent uranium-235 or greater, but all HEU can be used to make nuclear weapons.” – https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/weapon-materials-basics (Union Of Concerned Scientists)
We’ve seen that an uncontrolled chain reaction with 5% U235 can melt down a nuclear reactor. There is an obvious exponential difference between a runaway reactor and a high-yield fission bomb that is related to both U235 purity and geometry.
To make a bomb that detonates at lower yields requires a threshold density of U235 and a means to hold it together long enough for sufficient fission to occur. The “means” is usually shaped explosive charges, a skill that Iran posesses.
Purity is no longer the problem for Iran. The construction and delivery are Iran’s final challenges in building a nuclear bomb. With no prior experience, Iran’s first test will likely be weak unless another actor like Pakistan, North Korea, etc supplies expertise. Without that borrowed expertise Iran cannot test a nuclear device within Iran without detection. With that expertise, Israel could be the test site.
Who can blame Netanyahu for being concerned?
Walter Sieruk says
Largely it’s “thanks” to that treasonous villain, Joe Biden , that hostile and vicious despots of that agressive and belligerent Islamic regime of Iran are now so very close having all the elements they need to create a nuclear bomb..
Deuce says
i dont think theyre close to making a nuke
Ade Fegan says
Why ?
OLD GUY says
I don’t think it has to be a nuclear bomb, a big dirty bomb exploded in the air would be bad.