Iran ‘now probably 1 or 2 weeks away’ from nuclear weapon breakout: Blinken

By Esra Tekin

ISTANBUL (AA) – US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Friday that Iran's ability to rapidly produce enough weapons-grade material for a nuclear weapon is “now probably one or two weeks away.”

“Iran, because of the nuclear agreement was thrown out, instead of being at least a year away from having the breakout capacity of producing fissile material for a nuclear weapon, is now probably one or two weeks away from doing that,” Blinken told at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.

“They haven’t produced a weapon itself, but that’s something of course that we track very, very carefully,” he added.

The top US diplomat also said the US policy is aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and that the administration would prefer to achieve that through diplomatic ways.