One US intel report assessed Iran would need 3 to 8 months to make nuclear weapon

Mr. Trump said last week Iran was "very close to having" a nuclear weapon, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Iran "is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the assembly." The head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Michael Kurilla, testified in mid-June that if Iran were to decide to sprint to a nuclear weapon, it would be able to produce enough weapons-grade material for a simple nuclear weapon in one week and could make enough for 10 nuclear weapons in three weeks. In March, the U.S. intelligence community assessed that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon and the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, still had not reauthorized the program, but "pressure has probably built on him to do so" — noting an "erosion of a decades-long taboo on discussing nuclear weapons in public."

Author: James LaPorta

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