CNN
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After decades of threat, Israel launched a bold attack on Iran on Friday, targeting nuclear sites, scientists and military leaders.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation was “stricken by the head of Iran’s nuclear weapons program.”
However, an international review by the US intelligence reporting community says Iran’s nuclear program is not currently weaponized. Tehran has also repeatedly insisted that he had not made any bombs.
Still, that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t be chosen or not.
Iran has been developing a nuclear program for decades, viewing it as a source of pride and sovereignty of its people. The program is intended solely for peace energy purposes and maintains plans to build additional nuclear power plants to meet domestic energy needs and free more oil for export.
Nuclear power plants need fuel called uranium, and other countries do not have the uranium that Iran currently operates without a nuclear weapons program, according to the UN Nuclear Watch Agency.
It promoted doubt that Iran was not completely transparent about its intentions. Tehran repeatedly said it would remove it if sanctions with the US were lifted, using its weapons-grade uranium stockpile as a tip for negotiations with the US.
So, what exactly is the role of uranium in nuclear weapons? And how far is Iran from weaponizing its program? This is what you need to know.
The United States began its nuclear program with Iran in 1957. At the time, the Western-friendly monarch Shah – ruled Iran and the two countries as still friends.
With support from the US, Iran began developing a nuclear program in the 1970s. However, when the Shah overthrew during the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the United States garnered its support.
Since the revolution that transformed Iran into an Islamic Republic, Western countries are worried that they could use nuclear programs to produce atomic weapons using highly enriched uranium.
Iran claims it is not trying to build nuclear weapons. It was a party to the United Nations Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has pledged to not develop bombs under it.
This is where the nuclear facility is located.
At the heart of the debate over Iran’s nuclear program is the enrichment of uranium. This is a process used to produce fuel for power plants that can be used to make nuclear bombs at higher levels.
In the early 2000s, international inspectors announced that they had found highly enriched uranium traces in Iranian plants in Natanz. Iran temporarily stopped enrichment, but resumed it in 2006, claiming it was permitted under an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency.
It urged long-standing international sanctions against Iran.
After years of negotiations, Iran and six world powers in 2015 agreed to a nuclear deal that would limit Iran’s nuclear threat in exchange for lighter sanctions.
The deal called for Iran to keep uranium enrichment levels below 3.67%, reduce its uranium enrichment levels from nearly 20%, dramatically reducing its uranium stockpile, and phased out its centrifuges and other such.
Uranium is not bomb grade until it is concentrated to 90% purity. Nuclear power plants that generate electricity use uranium, which is enriched from 3.5% to 5%.
It is unclear how close it is for Iran to actually build a nuclear bomb, but it has made great strides in producing its important ingredients: highly enriched uranium. In recent years, we have significantly reduced the time required to reach weapon grade levels. It now took about a week to produce enough for one bomb.
In 2018, Trump withdrew from Iran’s nuclear deal and launched new sanctions on the administration to undermine the economy.
Tehran said it would stop halting compliance with parts of the agreement, and began using advanced uranium enrichment and uranium stockpiling and advanced centrifuges.
All previously installed IAEA equipment for surveillance and surveillance activities have been removed.
The Biden administration then began indirect negotiations with Iran for over a year, with the aim of reviving the deal, but was destroyed in 2022.
In 2023, the IAEA said uranium particles were found at Iran’s nuclear facility, enriched at 83.7% purity (83.7% close to bomb grade levels). Stockpilings of up to 60% enriched uranium also grew to 128.3 kilograms, and were subsequently recorded at the highest levels.
And last year, the US reduced Iran’s so-called “breakout times” – the time required to produce enough fissile material for nuclear weapons – “a week or two.”
A report from the IAEA, sent to member states later last month, said Iran’s 60% purely enriched uranium shares have now grown to 408 kilograms. According to the IAEA Yard Stick, if it’s even richer, it’s enough for nine nuclear weapons.
The IAEA has long accused Iran of violating its non-proliferation obligations, but on Thursday, for the first time in nearly two decades, the board passed a resolution officially declaring Iran in violation of these obligations. Iran has committed to responding by escalating its nuclear activity.
Enrichment is the process of increasing the amount of special types of uranium used to power nuclear reactors, or much more uranium to create nuclear weapons.
Natural uranium is mainly uranium 238, about 99.3%, which is not good for electricity or bombs. Only about 0.7% is uranium 235, which is necessary to release energy.
The use of nuclear energy requires a small amount of useful uranium 235 to concentrate. To do this, the uranium is first converted to gas, then rotated at high speed in a machine called a centrifuge. These machines help to separate uranium-235 from the more common uranium-238. That’s concentration.
Uranium used in nuclear power plants is usually enriched at about 3.67%. To make a nuclear bomb, it needs to be concentrated to about 90%. Iran enriched uranium to 60% – not enough for bombs, but a big step closer to weapon-grade materials.
Centrifuges are essential for enriching uranium. The more advanced the centrifuge, the faster and more efficient it is possible to separate uranium-235 from uranium-238. Iran has spent decades improving the centrifugal field, beginning with the first generation IR-1 model in the late 1980s. Currently, it operates thousands of machines, including advanced models such as the IR-6 and IR-9.
According to the Weapon Control Association, Iran’s current centrifuge capacity could allow it to produce sufficient weapon-grade uranium for bombs within two weeks.
Israel says it is targeting Iran’s nuclear infrastructure in its attacks.
Natanz, a facility at the heart of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, was engulfed in flames on Friday, according to social media images that have been globalized by television coverage in CNN and Iran’s provinces.
The nuclear complex, about 250 kilometers (150 miles) south of the capital Tehran, is considered Iran’s largest uranium enrichment facility. According to analysts, the site is used to develop and assemble uranium enriched centrifuges, a key technology that converts uranium into nuclear fuel.
The IAEA said three nuclear sites, Fordow, Isfahan and Bushehr, were not affected.
Six Iranian nuclear scientists were also killed in the Israeli strike, said Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with the Iranian state.
Iran has long strengthened its nuclear structure against the threat of military strikes.
Some facilities are buried underground to keep them out of reach of Israeli weapons.