RT-Engels: 05-05-2026,
Tehran remains about a year from building a nuclear bomb if it wishes to do so, with its enriched uranium stockpile still out of reach, the news agency says
US-Israeli strikes on Iran have failed to push back the timeline for Tehran potentially acquiring a nuclear weapon, Reuters reported on Monday, citing intelligence sources. Tehran could still reportedly produce a bomb in roughly a year – the same estimate as after last June’s attacks on its key nuclear facilities.
While US officials have insisted that their key objective in the war has been to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, the timeline for a nuclear breakout remains “broadly unchanged,” the report says. It added that derailing Tehran’s nuclear effort would require destroying or removing Iran’s remaining stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
“Iran still possesses all of its nuclear material, as far as we know,” Eric Brewer, a former senior US intelligence analyst, told Reuters. “That material is probably located in deeply buried underground sites where US munitions can’t penetrate.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been unable to verify the whereabouts of some 440 kg of uranium enriched to 60% – enough, if further enriched, for ten bombs. About half is believed to be in an underground tunnel complex at the Isfahan Nuclear Research Center, according to Reuters.
Last June, powerful US strikes hit nuclear facilities at Natanz, Fordow,