US Energy Secretary Chris Wright warned that Iran was "frighteningly close" to developing weapons-grade enriched uranium and a nuclear weapon. Wright said Iran's enriched uranium, which President Donald Trump is determined to seize, puts the regime just weeks away from the threshold required to obtain a nuclear weapon.
"They are weeks, a small number of weeks away to enrich that to weapons-grade uranium. There's still a weaponization process that happens after that, but they're pretty close," Wright told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Special Envoy Steve Witkoff has said publicly that Iran boasted it had enough uranium enriched to 60% to produce 11 nuclear bombs if further enriched to 90%.
Reaching 60% enrichment is a far greater technical leap than going from 60% to 90%, which is weapons-grade enrichment, according to nuclear experts. Iran is believed to have about 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of uranium enriched to 60%.
Wright and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) agreed during the hearing that the Islamic Republic was only "weeks away" from producing uranium suitable for a nuclear weapon.
"They have about 20% enriched uranium, and that's another few weeks after [the] 60%," Wright added.
"Unenriched uranium, it's a long process to get it to weapons-grade. But when you're at 60%, although the numbers don't sound that way, you're way more than 90% of the way there for the enrichment necessary for weapons-grade uranium. Very close."
