ASPEN, Colorado — Iran has increasingly talked about acquiring a nuclear bomb and has taken steps toward developing a key component of a weapon since April, when Israel and its allies overpowered a barrage of Iranian airstrikes on Israel, two senior Biden administration officials said Friday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said during separate panels at a security forum in Colorado that the United States is closely watching for signs that Iran has decided to actually weaponize its nuclear program.
However, Sullivan said, “I have not seen any decision from Iran to move” in a way that would indicate the country has actually decided to develop a nuclear bomb at this time.
“If they go down that path, they will have a real problem with the United States,” Sullivan said at the Aspen Security Forum, which attracts U.S. policymakers, journalists and others.
Iran has resumed progress on its nuclear program after the The Trump administration ended cooperation with the US under a 2015 deal that Iran granted sanctions relief in exchange for stricter oversight of the program.
Iran says its nuclear program is for civilian purposes. The U.S. and others in the international community believe that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei waited long to give Iranian scientists a final green light to develop a nuclear weapon.
But Iran’s poor performance with conventional weapons on April 13, when it launched its first ever direct attack on Israel As part of a days-long series of attacks, observers have been closely watching a growing Iranian interest in pursuing development of a nuclear weapon.
Israel said at the time that the United States and other allies had shot down 99% of some 300 missiles and drones fired by Iran after an alleged Israeli attack that killed 1,000 people. two Iranian generals.
“What we’ve seen over the last few weeks and months is Iran is actually making progress” in developing fissile material, Blinken said Friday. Fissile material can be used as fuel for a bomb.
He blamed the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal, which Trump called “flawed at its core” when he ended U.S. participation in 2019.
“Instead of being at least a year away from having the breakout capability to produce fissile material for a nuclear weapon, they’re probably one or two weeks away from that,” Blinken said, adding that “where we are right now is not good.”
“They haven’t produced a weapon themselves yet, but… if you put those things together, fissile material, an explosive, you have a nuclear weapon,” he said.
The United States was monitoring “very, very closely” any signs that Iran was working on the weapons side of producing a bomb, he said. The U.S. is also working on the diplomatic side to contain further efforts, Blinken said.
Meanwhile, Sullivan said, the U.S. has “noted an increase in public comments from Iranian officials considering that possibility” since the April attacks and counterattacks between Iran and Israel and its allies.
“That was new. That was something that caught our attention,” he said.