The latest move — increasing enrichment levels beyond the 3.67 percent purity that is the ceiling under the deal — inches Iran closer to where it was before the accord: on the path to being able to produce an atomic bomb. What’s next: The deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Iran would break other limits of the accord in 60-day intervals unless international powers provided sanctions relief as detailed in the deal. Reality: It would take a major production surge, and enrichment to far higher levels, for Iran to develop a bomb’s worth of highly enriched uranium, experts say. It would take even longer to manufacture that material into a nuclear weapon. Related: In a series of leaked diplomatic cables that include assessments of American domestic politics and Washington’s treatment of Iran, Britain’s ambassador to the U.S. described President Trump as “radiating insecurity” and his administration as diplomatically “clumsy and inept.”

Source: International New York Times July 08, 2019 02:48 UTC