Table of Contents
STORM CLOUDS GATHERING
- Iran recently confirmed that it has breached the limit on its stockpile of enriched uranium set by the 2015 nuclear deal, renewing concerns that Tehran could, within months, have enough weapons-grade uranium to build a nuclear bomb
BASICS
THE ISSUE
- The 2015 deal caps Iran’s levels of uranium enriched to 3.67 percent purity— called “low-enriched uranium” and suitable for producing fuel for nuclear power reactors—at 300 kilograms.
THE IRAN DEAL
- In 2015, Iran agreed a long-term deal on its nuclear programme with a group of world powers known as the P5+1 – the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany. Iran’s uranium stockpile was reduced by 98% to 300kg (660lbs), a figure that must not be exceeded until 2031. It must also keep the stockpile’s level of enrichment at 3.67%.
HOW CLOSE IS IRAN TO A NUCLEAR BOMB, REALLY?
- Tehran would need 1,050 kilograms of lowenriched uranium to make the core of one bomb Then, Iran would have to further enrich it, to 90 percent purity, using centrifuges until it had about 25 kilograms of what is called “highly enriched uranium.” Once Iran has enough weapons-grade uranium for a core, it would then have to convert that uranium from gas to metal, fit it with an explosive package that could ignite the fission reaction, and mount it on a ballistic missile
HOW CLOSE IS IRAN
- While the U.S. intelligence community assessed in 2007 that Iran had mastered the steps necessary to build a nuclear weapon, including research on mating a warhead with certain types of ballistic missiles
THE MISSILES
- On Feb. 7, 2019, the Dezful ballistic missile was unveiled, with a range of 1,000 kilometers (600 miles). Iran’s Press TV quoted Hajizadeh as saying the Revolutionary Guards will “continue missile tests … and plan to carry out more than 50 missile tests each year.”
ISRAEL IS NERVOUS
TRUMP’S PROBLEMS
USA cannot afford a war with Iran
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