Iran ‘able to make 50 nuclear bombs'

Telegraph

20 hours ago

Iran has enough enriched uranium to make 50 nuclear bombs, and there is intelligence to show it was planning to weaponise it, Israel says.
On Saturday, a senior Israeli Defense Forces official said Israel faced an 'immediate existential threat' from Iran, and that operations against Iran would continue until that threat was removed.
The claims, which have not been independently verified, dwarf previous estimates. On Thursday, the UN's nuclear watchdog estimated that Iran had enriched enough uranium for nine bombs.
The IDF official also told a briefing for journalists that overnight strikes on Iranian air defence systems meant that the 'aerial road to Tehran was now effectively open'.
The threat Israel faces from Iran consists of three elements, said the official: Iran's nuclear program, its ballistic missiles, and its sponsorship of cross-border terrorism through proxy groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
'This is not necessarily over. We are prepared for more rounds,' the official added.
'Our goal in these operations is to remove an existential threat; to remove a ticking time bomb'.
Israel has been warning since 2009 that Iran was 'months away' from developing a nuclear bomb, but the claim it had gone beyond enrichment towards developing a weapon is new, as is the number of 50 bombs.
The IDF official said its intelligence had been shared with other intelligence agencies and showed that 'concrete progress' had been made in the Iranian regime's efforts to produce weapons components adapted for a nuclear bomb, including a uranium metal core and initiator for triggering an explosion.
This stands in contrast to recent assessments made by the US and its security agencies.
Tulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence, told Congress in March that Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium was 'at its highest levels' and 'unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons'.
But she added that US intelligence 'continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei has not authorised the nuclear weapons programme that he suspended in 2003'.
Three people were killed in Israel in barrages of Iranian ballistic missile fire on Friday night and early on Saturday morning.
In addition, some 70 people were wounded by the estimated 200 ballistic missiles fired from Iran in four waves.
Most of the missiles were intercepted by air defences. But a 'small number' made it through air defences, the IDF said.
It was clear from live television images that at least one target of the Iranian strikes was the Kirya, a densely built-up area in central Tel Aviv that houses a number of military offices including the IDF's headquarters.
The IDF warned that further ballistic missile attacks on Israel were expected but it claimed Iran's ability to launch missiles at Israel would slowly degrade.
The Israeli military released footage showing the identification of Iranian ballistic missile launchers in Tehran, shortly before they were targeted.
Israel believes Iran has an arsenal of about 2,000 ballistic missiles it could use against Israel and which – until the current strikes – was growing fast.
David Lammy, the UK Foreign Secretary, has expressed concern at the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran.
'Alarmed by further strikes in the Middle East overnight, with reports of fatalities and injuries in Israel. We must urgently de-escalate & prevent any further harm to civilians,' Mr Lammy wrote on the social media platform X. He added that he had spoken to his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi 'to urge calm.'