Tehran, June 21 (ANI): Iran is producing enriched uranium at faster speed, and could produce enough fissile material needed for a nuclear weapon within four months, experts have claimed.
Experts have told U.S. politicians that the rate of Iran's uranium enrichment has accelerated despite cyber sabotage from the Stuxnet virus in 2009.
"Based on the findings of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it's clear that Iran could produce a nuclear weapon very quickly should it wish to do so," The Telegraph quoted Stephen Rademaker of the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, as saying.
Rademaker told the House Armed Services Committee that according to the IAEA Iran has produced 3,345 kilos of uranium enriched to 3.5 per cent.
If the Iran leadership decided to go forward, 'it would take them 35 to 106 days to actually have the fissile material for a weapon,' he added.
According to the paper, David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), also said that 'it would take Iran at least four months in order to have sufficient weapon grade uranium for a nuclear explosive device.'
Uranium 235 must be enriched close to 90 per cent for use in an atom bomb.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta had said that the Iranians are about a year away from producing enough highly-enriched uranium needed for a nuclear weapon, a threshold that Washington views as a 'red line.' (ANI)
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