CIA Director William Burns said in an interview Sunday that Iran’s nuclear program is advancing at a “worrying pace” following reports that Tehran has raised uranium enrichment levels.
Last week, Bloomberg quoted two diplomatic sources as saying that inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency had discovered enriched uranium to 84%, just below the 90% needed to produce an atomic bomb, but Iran denied this.
Officially, Iran produces 60% enriched uranium at two sites, Natanz and Fordow.
Burns said in an interview with “Face the Nation” program on “CBS”, that Iran “has advanced so much that it will only take weeks before it can enrich (uranium) by 90 percent, if it wants to exceed this limit,” describing The progress he called “very worrying”.
But he added that the United States does not believe that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has decided to “resume the armaments program, which we estimate was suspended or halted at the end of 2003.”
Tehran always insists that it is not planning to build an atomic bomb.
Burns said that Iran “is still very far away … in terms of the ability to develop a weapon,” but he said that the development of enrichment levels and missile systems capable of carrying a nuclear weapon “is progressing at an alarming rate.”
Burns spoke regarding another point of concern, which is that Russia is proposing to help Iran in its missile program, confirming the United States’ belief that Moscow is also considering sending fighter jets to Iran.
Russia and Iran expanded their military cooperation, with Tehran sending increasing quantities of weapons to Moscow for use in an invasion of Ukraine.
Burns said the two countries’ cooperation is “going at a very fast pace in a very dangerous direction.”
“This matter poses a clear danger not only to the Ukrainians (…) but also to our friends and partners throughout the Middle East,” he added.