Biden administration officials expect terms of a new nuclear agreement are likely to leave Iran in a position to amass fuel for a bomb in less than a year, The Wall Street Journal is reporting.
The newspaper, attributing the information to officials familiar with the matter, said the administration reached the conclusion in late 2021. They maintain Iran’s nuclear program had progressed too far to mandate the 12-month so-called breakout period that was in the 2015 agreement.
While the U.S. still plans to move ahead with talks with Tehran, officials say a revised deal must be reached soon to give the U.S. and its allies sufficient time to deal with any Iran nuclear buildup.
According to the Journal, some former U.S. officials argue that a new deal with Iran that includes a breakout period of less than six months could end up weakening the administration’s ability to respond if Iran decides to suddenly ramp-up its nuclear program.
Just how limited that breakout period will be depends on what steps Iran agrees to take to dismantle, destroy, or place under seal its stockpile of enriched uranium, machines for producing nuclear fuel, the newspaper said.
A State Department spokesperson said the administration is confident a deal “would address our urgent nonproliferation concerns.”
“As we have said, we have only a few weeks to conclude an understanding, after which the pace of Iran’s nuclear advances will make return to the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action].
Reuters reported on Tuesday that an unnamed State Department official said Iran is on pace to have fuel for a nuclear bomb in a matter of weeks.
Indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran on returning to the 2015 nuclear deal are in the “final stretch,” the official told Reuters.
"We made progress narrowing down the list of differences to just the key priorities on all sides. And that's why now is the time for political decisions," said the official.
President Joe Biden has vowed to re-enter the deal after former President Donald Trump pulled out of the pact in 2018.
"Given the pace of Iran's advances, its nuclear advances, we only have a handful of weeks left to get a deal," the official said.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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