Blinken: Iran one-two weeks away from producing enough material for nuclear weapon

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken indicates he’s not optimistic about the chances for reform in Iran, despite its election of a relatively more moderate candidate, since the supreme leader is still the one who “calls the shots.”

“When this administration came in, we tried to pursue again, nuclear diplomacy with Iran, because if you could at least take one problem off the board, which is Iran potentially with a nuclear weapon, that’s inherently a good thing,” he says, blasting the Trump administration from withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal.

“Instead of being at least a year away from having the breakout capacity of producing fissile material for a nuclear weapon, it is now probably one or two weeks away from doing that,” he tells the Aspen Security Forum, clarifying that they haven’t yet produced the weapon itself, which would take far more time.

Blinken reiterates that the US will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, but still prefers the diplomatic route to preventing this scenario.

“What we need to see, if Iran is serious about engaging, is actually pulling back on the work that it’s been doing on his program.”

“Second, we have been maximizing pressure on Iran across the board. We’ve imposed more than 600 sanctions on Iranian persons and entities. We haven’t lifted a single sanction,” he asserts.