Iran’s Newest Nuclear Steps Won’t Make Up for Delays Caused by Explosion

Iran has attempted to make up for an April 11 explosion at its Natanz enrichment facility by announcing new nuclear advances: enriching uranium to 60 percent and installing an additional 1,000 advanced centrifuges. Though these moves are designed to regain leverage and convince the United States to grant Iran sanctions relief, neither of these announcements will, for now, materially accelerate Iran’s ability to sprint for a nuclear weapon. Instead, the explosion at Natanz appears to have set back Iran’s “breakout” clock — the amount of time needed to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for a single nuclear weapon — by roughly two months.

Click here to read the NatSec Brief.

JINSA Staff Contributors

Blaise Misztal
Vice President for Policy

Jonathan Ruhe
Director of Foreign Policy