LONDON - The diplomatic thaw between the West and Iran could quickly chill again if the two sides are unable to master the many moving parts of Tehran’s disputed nuclear program under the weight of more than three decades of distrust.
The dispute is not only about the West stopping Iran building a bomb, but also about preventing it expanding its capabilities to the point where it could make a dash for nuclear weapons - known as “breakout” - if it chose to.
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“In as much as they have the ability to indigenously develop a nuclear bomb, they already have a nuclear-weapons capability,” said Joshi. “Now the issue that is looming is enrichment capacity. By the middle of next year, capacity will be so high that some fear that it would be at that dangerous level of undetectable breakout.”