Iran might possess sufficient materials to construct three nuclear bombs, but it would require a minimum of six months to achieve this capability, an expert has cautioned. The alarming revelation comes amidst Iran’s drone onslaught on Israel, boasting the deployment of over 100 drones in a reprisal for an Israeli assault on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that resulted in the death of seven Revolutionary Guard members.
According to Iran’s state-controlled IRNA news agency, Tehran also launched ballistic missiles at targets within Israel, alongside explosive-laden drones.
The cautionary note was sounded by David Sanger, the esteemed White House National Security Correspondent for The New York Times, during a discussion with CNN. The show’s host, Wolf Blitzer, probed Mr Sanger about Iran’s proximity to developing a nuclear arsenal, voicing apprehensions regarding potential Israeli countermeasures to the recent spate of attacks.
Mr Sanger elucidated: “The Iranians shipped most of their nuclear fuel out after the 2015 agreement with the Obama administration. After President Trump decided to pull out of that agreement they’ve slowly begun to build back up, and they probably have enough now for about three nuclear weapons.”
“But it would take them probably about six months, maybe a year, to actually fashion it into a weapon. I think the bigger fear here now is that if we really are at the cusp of a new age, one in which there are direct strikes back and forth between Israel and Iran, the temptation for Iran to race ahead with a nuclear programme could be pretty high.”
“Until now, they’ve been moving steadily, slowly, but they haven’t been racing toward it as far as we can tell, and that’s been an interesting bit of restraint.
“There’s a second thing we’re looking for… If it turns out that these waves are one and done, and in a few hours from now we’re not seeing more coming, then I think it’s a signal from Iran that they had to go out and do something, but they don’t plan to get into a situation where the Israeli’s are under pressure to go take the next step.”
“If, on the other hand, this is followed by cruise missiles and others, that it truly is an effort to overwhelm the system, then that’s a very different thing.”
When questioned about the potential repercussions if Iran’s strikes were followed by proxies, such as Hezbollah, Mr Sanger stated it “complicates it a lot”. He further added that it “particularly complicates it” because “President Biden and his aides have been on the phone to Prime Minister Netanyahu and others saying ‘Let’s let tonight be it if there are no significant casualties’.”
Following an airstrike on April 1, widely attributed to Israel, which resulted in the destruction of Iran’s consulate in Syria and the death of 12 individuals including two top Iranian generals, Iran has been issuing threats against Israel. In response, Israel has prioritised missile defence, equipping itself with a range of air-defence systems capable of intercepting incoming missile and drone attacks.