US CENTCOM: Iran was a week away from nuclear-grade uranium before Israeli preemptive strikes

Earlier this month, US CENTCOM Commander General Erik Kurilla said Iran was just a week away from producing enough 90% enriched uranium to build one nuclear weapon, and three weeks away from enough for ten, if it chose to do so.

“Should the Regime decide to sprint to a nuclear weapon, it is estimated that current stockpiles and the available centrifuges across several enrichment plants are sufficient to produce its first 25 kg of weapons-grade material in roughly one week and enough for up to ten nuclear weapons in three weeks,” Kurilla said.

Estimates indicate that producing a functional nuclear weapon after enriching the sufficient amount of uranium, however, could take Iran about a year.

“‘Sprinting’ to produce a weapon includes some steps that Iran hadn’t yet achieved,” the Jerusalem Post reported.

“Some of these steps include detonating a nuclear explosion or being able to place a nuclear warhead on ballistic missiles. Different estimates say that with these steps in mind, Iran was closer to being seven months to one year away from making a weapon.”

In his speech announcing “Operation Rising Lion,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “in recent months, Iran has taken steps it has never taken before – steps to weaponize this enriched uranium.”

“If not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time,” he said. “It could be a year. It could be within a few months.”

In an interview on Sunday, Fox News host Bret Baier asked Netanyahu what intelligence he had that Iran had chosen to weaponize their enriched uranium.

“Less than two months ago, the new Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified on Capitol Hill, saying that everything had been suspended since 2003 and had not restarted – that the nuclear program had not been restarted by the Iranians,” Baier said.

Gabbard had told lawmakers that “the IC continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, and Supreme leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.”

“So did something change from the end of March until this week?” Baier asked Netanyahu. “Was the U.S. intel wrong?”

“The intel we got and we shared with the United States was absolutely clear,” Netanyahu responded.

“They were working in a secret plan to weaponize the uranium. They were marching very quickly, they would achieve a test device and possibly an initial device within months, and certainly within less than a year.”

“Whether it would be six months, or 12 months, or 13 months is immaterial,” he continued. “Once they go that route, it’s too late. And we will not have a second holocaust, a nuclear holocaust.”

On Air Force One on Tuesday, Trump was also asked about Tulsi Gabbard’s comments.

Asking for the president’s personal assessment on how close Iran was to producing a nuclear weapon, CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins noted that “Tulsi Gabbard testified in March that the intelligence community said Iran wasn’t building a nuclear weapon.”

“I don’t care what she said,” Trump answered. “I think they were very close to having one."