Iran could make enough fissile for one nuclear bomb in 'about 12 days,' a top U.S. Defense Department official said on Tuesday, down from the estimated one year it would have taken while the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was in effect.
Colin Kahl, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, testifies as Department of Defense Inspector General Robert Storch and Director for Operations of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Sims II listens, during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on oversight of U.S. military support to Ukraine, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., February 28, 2023.
Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl made the comment to a House of Representatives hearing when pressed by a Republican lawmaker why the Biden administration had sought to revive the deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action "Because Iran's nuclear progress since we left the JCPOA has been remarkable. Back in 2018, when the previous administration decided to leave the JCPOA it would have taken Iran about 12 months to produce one bomb's worth of fissile material. Now it would take about 12 days," Kahl, the third ranking Defense Department official, told lawmakers.
"And so I think there is still the view that if you could resolve this issue diplomatically and put constraints back on their nuclear program, it is better than the other options. But right now, the JCPOA is on ice," Kahl added.
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