Iran will soon be able to produce fissile material for use in nuclear weapons

(Patria) - Iran is capable of producing fissile material for use in nuclear weapons within "one or two weeks," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday, reported AFP.

News of Iran's capabilities follows the recent election of President Masoud Pezeshkian, who said his goal is to "pull Iran out of its isolation" and who advocates for reviving the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

Blinken said that "what we have seen in recent weeks and months is Iran actually moving forward" with its nuclear program.

The United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018 from the Iranian nuclear deal, which was designed to regulate Iran's atomic activities in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.

Speaking at a security forum in Colorado, Blinken blamed the collapse of the nuclear deal for accelerating Iran's capabilities.

"Instead of being at least a year away from a breakout capacity to produce fissile material for a nuclear weapon, (Iran) is now probably one or two weeks away from that," Blinken said. He added that Iran has not yet developed a nuclear weapon.

Iran's acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri told CNN earlier this week that his country remained committed to the deal, known as the JCPOA.

"We are still members of the JCPOA. America has not yet managed to return to the JCPOA, so the goal we are pursuing is the revival of the 2015 agreement," he said.

"We are not seeking a new agreement."

Bagheri added that: "Neither I nor anyone else in Iran has discussed and will not discuss a new agreement. We have an agreement signed in 2015."

Blinken made the statement just days after reports emerged that the US Secret Service had increased security for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump several weeks ago, after authorities learned of an alleged Iranian plot to kill him.