{"id":136443,"date":"2017-08-22T15:38:24","date_gmt":"2017-08-22T15:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/08\/22\/iran-says-only-5-days-needed-to-ramp-up-uranium-enrichment\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:21:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:21:45","slug":"iran-says-only-5-days-needed-to-ramp-up-uranium-enrichment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2017\/08\/22\/iran-says-only-5-days-needed-to-ramp-up-uranium-enrichment\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran says only 5 days needed to ramp up uranium enrichment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TEHRAN, Iran \u2014 Iran\u2019s atomic chief warned Tuesday the Islamic Republic needs only five days to ramp up its uranium enrichment to 20 percent, a level at which the material could be used for a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The comments by Ali Akbar Salehi to Iranian state television come as U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly has threatened to renegotiate or walk away from the 2015 nuclear deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salehi\u2019s warning, along with recent comments by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, show Iran is willing to push back against Trump while still acknowledging they want to keep the deal, which lifted crippling economic sanctions on the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf there is a plan for a reaction and a challenge, we will definitely surprise them,\u201d said Salehi, who also serves as one of Rouhani\u2019s vice presidents. \u201cIf we make the determination, we are able to resume 20 percent enrichment in at most five days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDefinitely we are not interested in such a thing happening. We have not achieved the deal easily to let it go easily. We are committed to the deal, and we are loyal to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran gave up the majority of its stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium as part of the nuclear deal it struck with world powers, including Trump\u2019s predecessor, President Barack Obama. The accord, which lifted sanctions on Iran, currently caps the Islamic Republic uranium enrichment at 5 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Iran long has maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, uranium enriched to 20 percent and above can be used in nuclear bombs. Iran processed its stockpile of near 20 percent uranium into a lower enrichment, turned some into fuel plates to power a research reactor and shipped the rest to Russia as part of the deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Obama administration and most independent experts said at the time of the deal that Iran would need at least a year after abandoning the deal to have enough nuclear material to build a bomb. Before the deal was struck, they said the time frame for Iran to \u201cbreak out\u201d toward a bomb was a couple of months.<\/p>\n\n\n\t