Iran could obtain enough material to create a nuclear bomb within a matter of weeks, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken cautioned Monday.
Blinken, in an interview with NBC News taped Sunday, said Tehran is "a matter of weeks" away from crossing the threshold if it continues to step back from its commitments under the 2015 nuclear pact it struck with world powers.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday warned that it could be only “a matter of weeks” before Tehran could produce a sufficient amount of fissile material for a nuclear weapon. https://t.co/cDVKdnf2Kd
— Rudaw English (@RudawEnglish) February 1, 2021
The Islamic Republic has been taking the actions in retaliation for former President Donald Trump's unilateral decision to withdraw the US from the agreement in 2018, and reimpose sanctions that were lifted as part of the agreement.
The US and Iran are at loggerheads over who should first return to compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Action with the Biden administration repeatedly maintaining it will only meet its obligations after Tehran. That position has been a non-starter for Iranian officials who maintain that since Trump left the deal first, the US must lift its sanctions before Tehran will return.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stuck to his stance that #Tehran must resume complying with the #Iran nuclear deal before Washington, which abandoned the pact under former President #DonaldTrump, would do so pic.twitter.com/btVru3wiXs
— DD India (@DDIndialive) January 28, 2021
President Joe Biden has sought to use the potential US return as a jumping-on point for negotiators to pursue additional Iranian activity that the US considers malign, including Tehran's development of ballistic missiles, and support for proxy groups throughout the region.
Asked during the interview if the release of Americans detained in Iran would be a condition for the "longer and stronger" deal sought by Biden, Blinken demurred.
"Irrespective of ... any deal, those Americans need to be released. Period," he said. "We're going to focus on making sure that they come home one way or another."
This article has been adapted from its original source.
