How soon could Iran develop a nuclear bomb?
The country has always
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insisted that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful - but suspicions that it was being used to develop a bomb covertly prompted the UN Security Council, US and
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EU to impose crippling sanctions in 2010.
The 2015 deal was designed to
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constrain the programme in a verifiable way in return for sanctions relief.
It restricted Iran's enrichment
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of uranium, which is used to make reactor fuel but also nuclear weapons, to 3.67%. Iran was also required to redesign a heavy-water reactor being built, whose spent fuel would contain plutonium suitable for a bomb, and allow international inspections.
Before July 2015, Iran had a large stockpile
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of enriched uranium and almost 20,000 centrifuges, enough to create eight to 10 bombs, according to the White House at the time.
US experts estimated back then
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that if Iran had decided to rush to make a bomb, it would take two to three months until it had enough 90%-enriched uranium to build a nuclear weapon - the so-called "breakout time".
Iran's current "breakout time", should
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it attempt to build a nuclear bomb, is estimated to be around a year, but this could be reduced to half a year or even a matter of months if enrichment levels are increased to 20%, for example.