Nuclear War warning: Iran can produce enough uranium for nuclear weapon for first time

The move further reduces the 12-month timescale experts estimate the Islamic Republic needs to create enough material for a nuclear weapon. The announcement by Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, comes as the country marks the 40th anniversary of the 1979 US Embassy takeover that started a 444-day hostage crisis.

The new technology means Iran can now produce ten times the level of enriched uranium from two months ago when it abandoned the nuclear deal despite the effort of the UK and other EU members to keep the accord alive.

Under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) capped the number of centrifuge enrichment machines installed in Iran at roughly 6,000, down from around 19,000 before 2015.

It allowed Iran to refine uranium only with first-generation IR-1 centrifuges in large enough quantities to satisfy energy industry demands but insufficient to create weapons of mass destruction.

Iran has already broken through its stockpile and enrichment limitations more than a year after Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the 2015 accord and started to ramp up trade sanctions again the regime in Tehran.

The collapse of the nuclear deal coincided with a tense summer of attacks on oil tankers and Saudi oil facilities that the US blamed on Iran.

Tehran denied the allegation, although it did seize oil tankers and shoot down a US military surveillance drone.

The US has increased its military presence across the Mideast, including basing troops in Saudi Arabia for the first time since the aftermath of the September 11 2001 terror attacks.

Both Saudi Arabia and the neighbouring United Arab Emirates are believed to be talking to Tehran through back channels to ease tensions.

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source: express.co.uk