The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director Rafael Grossi took the opportunity in an interview this weekend to publicly dismiss allegations about Iran nearing breakout capability, saying they don’t have enough enriched uranium to even make a single nuclear bomb.
A lot has been made of “breakout time,” with the Iranian uranium stockpile growing, but Grossi noted Iran is still only enriching at below the 4.5%, low levels they committed to under the nuclear deal. Iran has never attempted to go beyond 20% enrichment, while weaponization would require 90% to 95%.
Grossi said that the IAEA doesn’t look at breakout time, but rather at the quantity of enriched uranium needed for a weapon, reiterating that Iran “does not have this significant quantity at the moment.”
There have been varying estimates on how much uranium one bomb would take in the best-case scenario. They are well short of enough to make a serious push at an arsenal, because even one bomb would need to be detonated to prove functionality.
Bibi will ignore this & proclaim the same rubbish that Iran is months away from a nuke.
And the mainstream media and others will ONLY broadcast Bibi’s proclamations.
Russia anyone?
which he has done since 1995!!!!
“Breakout time,” the very term implies that they are looking to break out in the first place. Gotta love loaded language.
Mary Trump’s book tells me that Trump’s policies vs. Iran have absolutely nothing to do with nukes. For Trump Iran is the “Freddy” among the states.
So did Iraq…but that didn’t stop Bush…or the fools who happily enlisted to support his immoral foreign policy objectives.
What difference does it make? US and Israel will continue in this post-truth era. Facts? Who cares. The entire objective is to keep the region undeveloped, no infrastructure, no trade and connectivity, no manufacturing, no modern agriculture, no science and technology, no perspective for younger generations. Smart will emigrate. Drive Uber, and have their kids lose their identity.
The maximum pressure, the “assistance” with ISIS, stirring the pot with Kurds, keeping oil wells, Shia, Sunni, Hezbollah or Assad — whatever it takes. Just keep them down.
Exactly. The Yinon Plan strategy option so beloved by Netanyahu for a “Villa in a Desert” requires the entire neighborhood be ruined and kept that way.
Assad was a Syrian creation, and no one elses. Shiite Sunni hatred goes way back before the establishment of the US.
The amount of uranium needed varies with the bomb design, and in particular with the use of nuclear triggers of far more radioactive things that can be used to initiate the chain reaction.
Does Iran have any of those trigger materials?
Is Iran able to design an extremely efficient bomb without any testing data? That likely means, does Iran have help?
As far as publicly known, the answers are all “No” and so the fears are unfounded. If a “yes” was known, Netanyahu would have been screaming it for years now.
The USA ignores international law, so of course ignores international bodies which tell the truth, as the IAEA does here.
Iran doesn’t need nukes and can defend itself without them…They have done this for decades now…! Both US and Israel cannot use nukes on Iran because they know Iran does not have any…! Heck, they haven’t even attack Iran with conventional weapons because they know the consequences far outweigh the attack goals…!
The Iranian nuclear “problem” has a financial basis. More than 15 years ago, Canada, which supplied about 40% of the world’s supply of radionuclides for medical purposes, announced that it was decommissioning its reactors. This is a multi billion dollar per year business, and requires enrichment to 20% to produce its end product Technetium 99m. When Canada dropped out, the US and Israel couldn’t take up all of the “slack” which left a “shortage” and higher prices. Iran’s Bushehr was more than capable of not only filling that “shortage”, but capable of cutting into the US and Israeli market share.
It’s all about the Benjamins.