Are you close to making nuclear weapons? Iran to increase uranium enrichment in 5 days

Tehran: Iran’s atomic chief warned on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic needs only five days to increase its uranium enrichment to 20 percent, a level at which the material could be used as a nuclear weapon.

Ali Akbar Salehi’s remarks to Iranian state television come as US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to renegotiate or move away from the 2015 nuclear deal.

Salehi’s warning, along with recent remarks by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, shows that Iran is willing to push against Trump as it continues to recognize that they want to keep the agreement, which lifted the severe economic sanctions in the country.

“If there is a plan for a reaction and a challenge, we will definitely surprise them,” said Salehi, who is also one of Rouhani’s vice presidents. “If we make the determination, we can resume the 20 percent enrichment in a maximum of five days.”

“We are definitely not interested in such a thing happening, we have not easily reached the agreement to let it go easily, we are committed to the agreement and we are loyal to it.”

Iran abandoned most of its 20 percent enriched uranium arsenal as part of the nuclear deal it reached with world powers, including Trump’s predecessor, President Barack Obama. The agreement, which lifted sanctions on Iran, currently limits uranium enrichment of the Islamic Republic to 5 percent.

While Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, enriched uranium at 20 percent and above can be used in nuclear bombs. Iran processed its arsenal of about 20 percent uranium in lower enrichment, turned some into fuel plates to power a research reactor and shipped the rest to Russia as part of the deal.

The Obama administration and most independent experts said at the time of the deal that Iran would need at least a year after leaving the agreement to have enough nuclear material to build a bomb. Before the agreement was reached, they said the deadline for Iran to “break” into a bomb was a couple of months.

While the economic benefits of the agreement have not yet reached the Iranian average, airlines in the country have signed billions of dollars worth of Airbus and Boeing aircraft.

Automakers and others have swept the Iranian market, just as the country has boosted its oil sales. Leaving the agreement would jeopardize those economic gains.

Rouhani, a moderate cleric within the theocratically supervised Iranian government, warned last week that he could speed up his nuclear program and quickly reach a more advanced level if the United States follows “threats and sanctions” against his country.

Rouhani’s comments were prompted by Trump signing a sanctions bill imposing mandatory sanctions on those involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program and anyone else doing business with them. US law also applies sanctions against terrorism to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and enforces an existing arms embargo.