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

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

Benny Gantz, Israel’s defense minister, on Tuesday, May 17, and one day before his trip to the United States, addressed threats that he says are posed by Iran to the Israeli government. According to “Jewish Press,” in his speech at the “New World Order” conference at the Reichman University’s Institute for Policy and Strategy 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 a few weeks away from accumulating fissile material sufficient for the first bomb.”

He said the Islamic Republic possesses 60 kilograms of material enriched to 60% and prevents access by the International Atomic Energy Agency to its facilities.

According to Gantz, the Islamic Republic is currently even attempting to complete the production and installation of 1,000 advanced IR6 centrifuges at a new underground nuclear facility near Natanz. He stated: “The cost of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons will now be less than one more year.”

Iran’s proxy forces in the region

Israel’s defense minister also addressed Iran’s efforts to expand its influence and proxy forces in the region, saying these forces “attack oil reserves, airports and non-military targets.”

According to Gantz, Iran is developing military equipment throughout the region that “is equipped with precise capabilities including cruise missiles, ground-to-ground missiles and drones with a range of thousands of kilometers.” He added: “The number of strategic weapons in the hands of Iran’s proxy forces in Iraq and Yemen has increased significantly over the past year.”

Israel’s defense minister in his speech referred to “an example of the Islamic Republic’s attempt to use these weapons” in February of this year, saying the Islamic Revolutionary Guards 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 Palestinian territories.

Gantz, while stating that this Iranian attempt failed and the drones were intercepted in Iraq, emphasized that his country’s efforts to neutralize the Islamic Republic’s programs will continue and Israel will confront any threat to its citizens and the region.