Secret document lifts key Iran nuke constraints: report

Key restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program will ease in a little more than a decade, cutting in half the time Tehran would need to build a bomb, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press.    

{mosads}The document, a secret text linked to the deal between Iran and six other nations, says the country can replace 5,060 inefficient centrifuges with up to 3,500 advanced machines after 11 to 13 years, the AP reported. 

The advanced centrifuges, which are five times as efficient, would cut the time Iran would need to build a nuclear weapon — referred to as “breakout time” — from a year to six months. 

The provision appears to be part of the deal’s “sunset clause,” though it was not public, said Omri Ceren of The Israel Project, a group that advocated against the agreement.

Ceren said some experts expressed worry to Congress that limits on Iran’s centrifuge research and development were too weak during the first 10 years of the agreement. But whether the administration briefed lawmakers on the newly discovered document is unclear.

David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, said as much in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 25, 2015, one month before the nuclear deal was finalized.  

“No bans exist on Iran’s research and development of the IR-6 and IR-8 centrifuges, the latter of which is up to 16 times more powerful than the IR-1 centrifuge,” he said.

“Failing to achieve such bans, the interim agreement does not appear to mitigate the risks of Iran being able to deploy these more powerful centrifuges after year 13, other than some negotiators stating that they believe that Iran will have trouble actually deploying them in the future,” he said.