Iran very close to reach breakthrough in its nuclear program

Tehran’s nuclear progress is “alarming” and its stockpile of enriched uranium has grown significantly, a senior US official said on Monday.

The “breakout time” – the time needed to obtain enough uranium enriched for use in weapons – has shrunk from a year to “a few months”, said the senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to AFP.

Iran would then need to complete a number of additional steps, including building a nuclear device small enough to fit onto a ballistic missile, a process known as miniaturisation.

The US official said the US was keen to resume negotiations with Tehran and that Washington still believes diplomacy is the best path forward.

The US and the EU are keen to revive a variation of the 2015-18 “nuclear deal” in which the US relaxed most sanctions on Tehran in exchange for permitting UN inspections of research sites. Iran also agreed to set limits on its nuclear activities and for these to be monitored.

“We’re hopeful we can be back in Vienna [for talks] … in a fairly short period of time,“ the official said.

On Monday, Iran’s foreign ministry said the new round of discussions could start early next month. The comment came just after Iran’s foreign minister said Iran expects the US to unfreeze millions of dollars of Iranian assets.