Iran has a strong physical-sciences tradition, and has had an active nuclear programme for decades. The fissionable isotope uranium-235, which makes up less than 1% of natural uranium, must be separated from uranium-238, which is by far the more common isotope. Has Iran tried to build nuclear weapons in the past?īuilding nuclear weapons is expensive and requires technical expertise, such as enriching uranium. Nature talked to nuclear experts to find out how soon Iran can build a bomb, and whether this is likely to happen. US President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in May 2018, and Iran announced in May last year that it would resume uranium enrichment. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the 2015 deal between Iran and six global powers that limited its nuclear capabilities in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions, is now in serious jeopardy. In response, Iran shot missiles at US bases in Iraq. On 3 January, a US drone strike killed Qasem Soleimani, the key architect of Iran’s regional military influence. Tensions between Iran and the United States have escalated in the past month. But he and others caution that there is no evidence that Iran is rushing to build a bomb - at least not yet.
If confirmed, the rate of Iran's expanding uranium stockpile “shifts things dramatically”, Albright adds. But building actual weapons would take much longer, he adds. That’s enough to build one atomic bomb, if the uranium is further refined to make it weapons-grade - a process that could take just two to three months, says David Albright, a nuclear-policy specialist at the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington DC. Iran has accumulated 1,200 kilograms of enriched uranium - more than doubling the stockpile it had just three months ago, according to a statement from a senior official at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran on 25 January. Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant has been in operation for almost ten years.
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