Former minister and current Rafael chairman Yuval Steinitz issued a sharp warning over the emerging agreement with Iran, saying that some of the reported clauses could allow Tehran to preserve major nuclear capabilities and return within a few years to the status of a nuclear threshold state.
According to Steinitz, one of the central questions is what will happen to Iran’s existing stockpile of enriched uranium.
If that material remains in Iranian hands, while Tehran is also allowed to continue limited low-level enrichment, the result could be a much shorter path back to a military nuclear program in the future.
Steinitz warned that even if the agreement brings temporary calm and places certain restrictions on Iran, it may not solve the core problem. In such a scenario, Iran could return within one to two years to a position in which it has the knowledge, infrastructure and materials needed to produce a nuclear weapon in a relatively short time.