Gantz: Iran has doubled its 60% enriched uranium stockpile in two months

Israel's defense minister said the Islamic Republic has doubled its 60 percent enriched uranium stockpile in two months and is working to complete the production and installation of 1,000 advanced centrifuges at a site near the Natanz nuclear facility.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Tuesday, May 17, a day before traveling to the United States, addressed the threats he says Iran poses to the Israeli government. Speaking at the “New World Order” conference at the Reichman Institute for Policy and Strategy, a private university in Israel, he warned that Iran “continues to accumulate irreversible knowledge and experience in the development, research, production and operation of advanced centrifuges and is only weeks away from accumulating enough fissile material for a first bomb,” according to the Jewish Press.

He said the Islamic Republic is storing 60 kilograms of 60 percent enriched material and is preventing the International Atomic Energy Agency from accessing its facilities.

According to Gantz, the Islamic Republic is currently even working to complete the production and installation of 1,000 advanced IR6 centrifuges at a new underground nuclear facility near Natanz. “The cost of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon now will be less than a year from now,” he said.

Iranian proxy forces in the region

The Israeli Defense Minister also addressed Iran's efforts to expand its influence and proxy forces in the region, saying that these forces "attack oil reserves, airports, and civilian targets."

According to Gantz, Iran is developing its military equipment throughout the region, which is “equipped with precision capabilities, including cruise missiles, surface-to-surface missiles and drones, and has a range of thousands of kilometers.” He added: “The number of strategic weapons in the hands of Iranian proxies in Iraq and Yemen has increased significantly in the past year.”

In his speech, the Israeli defense minister referred to “an example of the Islamic Republic’s attempt to use these weapons” in February of this year, saying that the Revolutionary Guard Corps had sent a pair of drones toward Israel. According to him, since the drones had parachutes, it is possible that the purpose of sending them was to deliver weapons to terrorist organizations in the Palestinian territories.

Gantz, while stating that this Iranian attempt has failed and the drones have been intercepted in Iraq, emphasized that his country's efforts to thwart the Islamic Republic's plans will continue and that Israel will confront any threat to its citizens and the region.