WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama defends an emerging nuclear deal by noting Iran would be kept a year away from obtaining a nuclear weapon for more than a decade. But he conceded in an interview Tuesday the buffer period could shrink to almost nothing after 13 or more years.
Obama was pushing back on criticism the framework deal allows Iran to keep enriching uranium. He says there’s no risk of Iran amassing weapons-grade material because the stockpile is capped for a decade at 300 kilograms.
Obama says the more relevant fear is what happens in the 13th, 14th or 15th years of the deal. He says during that period Iran could have advanced centrifuges that enrich uranium quickly. He says Iran’s “breakout” time to build a bomb could shrink to almost zero.