Iran Can Build ‘Several Nuclear Weapons’ As It Continues To Amass Uranium: UN Official

Iran can possibly build “several nuclear weapons” as it continues to accumulate enough materials such as uranium for the war weapon, a United Nations official warned.

The warning from Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency comes ahead of his planned visit to Iran’s capital for dialogue, according to the Associated Press.

Grossi also told the West to redouble their efforts to stop the middle-eastern country from building the weapons.

“One thing is true: They have amassed enough nuclear material for several nuclear weapons, not one at this point,” Grossi said, as quoted by the Associated Press.

“They have 70 kilograms (155 pounds) of uranium enriched at 60%. … The amount is there,” Grossi said. “That doesn’t mean they have a nuclear weapon. So they haven’t proliferated yet.”

Nonproliferation experts have reportedly suggested that Iran already has enough stockpiled uranium enriched up to 60 percent to build at least one nuclear weapon.

The diplomat then referred to Benjamin Netanyahu’s 2012 United Nations speech where he urged the UN General Assembly to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

“It’s not a question of whether Iran will get the bomb. The question is at what stage can we stop Iran from getting the bomb,” Netanyahu said, as quoted by the Associated Press.

The country’s capital, however, insisted that the program is for peaceful purposes.

“The Iranian nuclear program has never been about making nuclear weapons and enriching has nothing to do with deviating from it,” Iran’s mission to the U.N. told the Associated Press in response to Grossi’s remarks.

Grossi noted that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a nuclear deal signed with Iran and other countries in 2015, is currently in a “very bad shape,” adding that the diplomatic activity linked to reviving the agreement is close to non-existent.

“Nobody has declared it dead, but no obligation is being pursued, and … every limit that existed in the JCPOA has been violated several times,” Grossi said, as quoted by CNN.

In December last year, United States Department spokesperson Ned Price said that the nuclear deal with Iran has not been on the agenda for months amid widespread protests in the middle-eastern country over the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman detained in September by the country’s police.