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Iran is getting “dangerously” close to completing its nuclear weapons programme and will soon have a nuclear bomb in its arsenal, Israel’s prime minister has warned.
Naftali Bennett called on Britain and its Western allies to stand up to the Middle-Eastern country and to continue putting pressure on its nuclear efforts.
Bennett’s comments follow months of deadlock over stalled talks aimed at restoring the Islamic Republic’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
Tensions remain high across the wider Middle East over the accord’s collapse as US sanctions and rising global food prices choke Iran’s ailing economy, putting further pressure on its government and its people.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph this week, Bennett warned that Iran is “enriching uranium at an unprecedented rate and moving dangerously close to getting their hands on nuclear weapons.”
Non-proliferation experts warn Iran has enriched uranium at levels over 60 percent purity – a short technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent – to make one nuclear weapon should it decide to do so.
Iran insists its nuclear enrichment program is for peaceful purposes, though U.N. experts and Western intelligence agencies say Iran had an organised military nuclear program through 2003.
Building a nuclear bomb would still take Iran more time if it pursued a weapon, analysts say, though they warn Tehran’s advances make the programme more dangerous.
Israel has threatened in the past that it would carry out a pre-emptive strike to stop Iran – and already is suspected in a series of recent killings targeting Iranian officials.
Bennet said the world must come together to challenge Iran over its programme.
“Without pressure from the west, the Islamic regime in Iran could get their hands on a nuclear bomb very soon,” he told The Telegraph.
“The world must take a firm stance and tell the Islamic regime in Iran: no nukes, no sanctions. Iran’s nuclear program won’t stop until it’s stopped,” he added.
One measure Israel has urged Britain to take is the implementation of a “tripwire” mechanism that would hit Iran with greater sanctions should it take further steps towards building nuclear weapons.
Iran and world powers agreed in 2015 to the nuclear deal, which saw Tehran drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
In 2018, then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord, raising tensions across the wider Middle East and sparking a series of attacks and incidents.
Talks in Vienna about reviving the deal have been on a “pause” since March. Since the deal’s collapse, Iran has been running advanced centrifuges and rapidly growing stockpile of enriched uranium.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that America “remains committed to a mutual return” to the nuclear deal, but only “if Iran drops its additional demands that are extraneous.” That likely refers to Iran’s insistence its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard be delisted by the U.S. as a terror group.
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