Iran ‘just a month’ from atomic bomb material

IRAN MAY be as little as a month away from having enough nuclear material for an atomic bomb, experts have warned.

The shock report from the Institute for Science and International Security comes as Israel has sounded a renewed alarm about the threat of the regime’s weapons programme.

The experts believe Iran is very close to having created a sufficient amount of weapons-grade uranium to build a device.

In their report, the institute, which is led by former UN weapons inspector David Albright, suggests as production continues Iran may have enough material for two bombs after three months, and for three bombs after five months.

Assembling a nuclear device that could be deployed as a warhead on a missile would still take some time longer. Israeli intelligence believes the process could take months or a year more.

The continuance of Iran’s nuclear weapons programme is in breach of its agreement in 2015 to call a halt in return for the lifting of sanctions.

The findings were based on a report by inspectors from the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency

This is an alarm call for the international community

(IAEA). The institute said: “Overall, the IAEA’s latest report shows Iran’s rapidly advancing nuclear activities and steps to limit IAEA monitoring, while inspectors have a diminishing ability to detect Iranian diversion of assets to undeclared facilities. The IAEA is sounding an alarm to the international community accordingly.”

At a press conference, Mr Albright suggested Iran’s increased uranium production may be a negotiating tactic under its new hardline president Ebrahim Raisi as the regime prepares to reopen negotiations in the next few months on reviving the 2015 agreement.

Mr Albright said: “We have to be careful not to let them scare us.”

In Israel, prime minister Naftali Bennett warned: “I am calling on world powers: don’t fall into the trap of Iranian deception that will lead to additional concessions.

“You must not give up on inspecting sites and the most important thing, the most important message is that there must be a time limit. They are dragging on, we must set a clear-cut deadline that says: until here.”

Defence minister Benny Gantz suggested Israel could live with a new deal if it proved effective. He told Foreign Policy magazine: “The current US approach of putting the Iran nuclear programme back in a box, I’d accept that.” But he has also warned there needs to be a “Plan B” if negotiations fail, possibly involving military action.