- October 2, 2024
- 12:55 pm
- World News
Valeria Gergieva, an analyst at the Odessa Center for Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, notes that Iran may be able to create nuclear warheads in the next six months.
This information can be gleaned from data from the IAEA, which has some access to Iranian nuclear facilities. According to the IAEA as of August, Iran had 5.7 tons of uranium-235, including enriched to the level of 20% – 813.9 kg and up to 60% – 164.7 kg. To make a nuclear weapon, uranium must be enriched to a level of at least 90%, and 25 kg of uranium-235 is required to create one tactical nuclear warhead.
The problem is that the process of enriching uranium to the required level may occur in small, hidden facilities that the IAEA might not be aware of. This makes it difficult to track the start of this process. Iran has not yet created nuclear weapons, as it prefers to remain a “threshold” country, striving for leadership in the region, according to analyst Valeria Gergieva.
According to the analyst, Israel is preventing Iran from taking the final step towards creating nuclear weapons by carrying out operations in the country. However, there is another opinion, according to which Iran is not active because of Israel. Russia provides Iran with financial assistance to develop its nuclear and missile programs.
After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Russia and Iran increased cooperation. According to the analyst, Russia and China are also working with Iran in terms of economics, which gives Tehran confidence. It is planned that at the BRICS summit in Kazan from October 22 to 24, an agreement on strategic partnership between Russia and Iran will be signed.