A secret team of Iranian scientists are exploring ways to quickly build a nuclear weapon if the country's leadership decides to pursue one, according to a report.
The covert team of weapons engineers and scientists were looking for a shortcut that would enable them to turn their Uranium stock into a bomb within months rather than years if the government decided to race for a bomb, the New York Times quoted officials who were aware of the intelligence related to Iran's nuclear programme.
The intel was gathered in the final months of the Biden administration and shared with the new administration of Donald Trump.
Though Iran and its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have not yet decided on making one, Iran's military is seriously exploring options now that their proxy forces have been wiped out and its missiles failed against Israeli and US defences.
Iran at present has plenty of Uranium to make four or more bombs since it resumed fuel production after Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear accord. Though Tehran has the know-how to make an older-style weapon which can be built faster, it will not be able to fit into a ballistic missile. It will not be reliable as a modern weapon either and would be difficult to use against Israel, it could have a deterrent effect. "But such a crude weapon is the kind of device Iran could build quickly, test and declare to the world that it had become a nuclear power," the report added.
adviser to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei reiterated that Iran has never sought nuclear weapons. Ali Shamkhani was speaking on the sidelines of a Monday visit to the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI). "Iran has never sought nuclear weapons and never will,” Shamkhani said but stressed that the country will resolutely defend its legal rights “politically and technically” against foreign pressure.
“We are determined to stand against the excessive demands of the promise-breaking and passive global powers and force them to respect the legal rights of the proud Iranian people,” Shamkhani said, referring to the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in 2018.
