Iran was nowhere close to a nuclear bomb

Iran was nowhere close to a nuclear bomb, experts say. Although President

Trump has claimed Iran was weeks away from developing a nuclear weapon,
much more work was needed for the country to do so. Confusion on whether
Iran truly needed only “two weeks to four weeks” to make a nuclear
weapon, as President Donald Trump suggested on Monday, hangs over the
ongoing U.S. and Israeli war on the Persian Gulf nation. Nuclear experts
call this claim unlikely—but the confusion may stem from some basics of
atomic chemistry. “There was no evidence that Iran was close to a nuclear
weapon,” says Jeffrey Lewis of the James Martin Center for
Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International
Studies. His comment echoed those of other experts after the war’s start,
as well as statements from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief
Rafael Grossi at that time and in 2025 and last year’s “threat
assessment” report by U.S. intelligence agencies. According to an IAEA
estimate, as of June 2025, Iran possessed 441 kilograms of 60 percent
enriched uranium, where the percentage refers to the share of the isotope
uranium 235 (U 235) found in the material. That would be enough for 10
nuclear weapons if the material could be enriched further to full 90
percent weapons-grade concentrations, according to the IAEA. That further
enrichment would take a matter of weeks in a fully functioning Iranian
nuclear complex, perhaps explaining the time line within Trump’s
declaration. That step alone doesn’t equal a bomb, however. And Iran’s
main enrichment capabilities were “completely and totally obliterated,”
according to Trump himself in June, after the U.S. bombed three underground
Iranian facilities.

 Scientific American 11th March 2026 

 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/iran-was-nowhere-close-to-a-nuclear-bomb-experts-say/

 The UK remains committed to finding a lasting and sustainable solution
that ensures Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon: UK statement at the UN
Security Council. Statement by Ambassador James Kariuki, UK Deputy
Permanent Representative to the UN, at the UN Security Council meeting on
Iran.

 FCO 12th March 2026 

 https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-uk-remains-committed-to-finding-a-lasting-and-sustainable-solution-that-ensures-iran-never-acquires-a-nuclear-weapon-uk-statement-at-the-un-secur