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Israel Warns Iran is Closer to Nuclear Bomb

Linda Gradstein

   JERUSALEM - Israel's army intelligence says Iran will have enough
   enriched uranium to produce one nuclear bomb by the end of the year.
   Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will not let Iran
   become a nuclear power.

   Israeli military analysts say that by the end of 2020 Iran will have
   enough enriched uranium for one nuclear bomb. The assessment comes
   after recent tensions between the U.S. and Iran brought them to the
   brink of war. The United States pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in
   2018, and Israeli intelligence officials speculated that Iran would
   resume its efforts to acquire a nuclear bomb.

   Israeli army intelligence officials based their calculation on their
   assessment that it takes 40 kilograms of 90-percent enriched uranium
   for one nuclear bomb. Iran announced several months ago that it no
   longer considered itself bound by the nuclear deal and would step up
   enrichment efforts.

   At the same time, the Israeli assessment found that Iran does not
   possess missiles that can carry a nuclear bomb and that as far as they
   know, Iran is not working on one.

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