The White Home on Thursday acknowledged definitively that Iran might produce a nuclear weapon in “a few weeks” as soon as given the go-ahead from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“Let’s be very clear, Iran has all that it wants to attain a nuclear weapon,” White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated at her briefing. “All they want is a choice from the supreme chief to try this.”
“And it could take a few weeks to finish the manufacturing of that weapon, which might, in fact, pose an existential menace not simply to Israel however to the United States and to the complete world,” she continued.
How shut Iran is to growing a usable nuclear weapon has been on the middle of the Israel-Iran battle, with continuing debate over the potential “breakout timeline” as soon as the nation has stockpiled sufficient weapons-grade enriched uranium.
The final time the U.S. gave an official, public breakout timeline was in July 2024 when then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated it could take Iran one to 2 weeks to complement sufficient uranium of 90% purity to get the fissile materials wanted for a nuclear weapon.
“When you’re at 60 [percent enrichment], you are 90% of the best way there. You’re, in essence, a threshold nuclear weapons state, which is what Iran mainly has develop into,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated in an interview final month.
But when Iran had been to supply sufficient weapons-grade uranium, most consultants estimate it could take Iran between a number of months to 2 years to really make a deliverable nuclear warhead.
In March, Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified that the intelligence neighborhood concluded the Iranians weren’t “constructing” a nuclear bomb and that the supreme chief had not but licensed one to be constructed.
Trump, when requested about Gabbard’s testimony this week, dismissed it, saying: “I don’t care what she stated, I believe they had been very near having one.” Gabbard then insisted she and Trump had been on the identical web page — that Iran was “shut” to acquiring a weapon — and that her testimony was misconstrued.
The intelligence neighborhood, although, did assess that Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile was at its highest degree and was unprecedented for a state with out nuclear weapons, Gabbard testified.
Choice on attacking inside two weeks, Trump says
All eyes are on what Trump will do subsequent as Israel and Iran proceed to commerce strikes, which Israel stated it is going to intensify after an Iranian missile hit a hospital in Beersheba.
The White Home stated on Thursday he would make a selection on whether or not to take navy motion in opposition to Tehran inside the subsequent two weeks.
“‘Primarily based on the truth that there is a substantial likelihood of negotiations which will or might not happen with Iran within the close to future, I’ll make my determination whether or not or to not go inside the subsequent two weeks.’ That is a quote immediately from the president for all of you as we speak,” Leavitt stated.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks throughout a press briefing on the White Home, June 19, 2025, in Washington.
Evan Vucci/AP
Trump’s met with advisers within the State of affairs Room 3 times this week after departing the G7 summit early as a result of tensions within the Center East. He permitted assault plans offered to him however was ready to see if Iran can be prepared to barter and hasn’t made a ultimate determination, sources accustomed to the matter informed ABC Information.
He is set for one more State of affairs Room assembly on Friday earlier than attending a personal fundraiser that night time in Bedminster, New Jersey, earlier than returning to the White Home Saturday afternoon the place he’ll get extra intelligence briefings that night and Sunday night.
Leavitt stated that Trump’s determination can be partly primarily based on his “instincts” as he faces different pressures from all sides, together with a break up in his Republican base between isolationists and Israel hawks.
“Look, the president hears all voices throughout the nation, and he makes choices primarily based on his instincts,” Leavitt stated. “And he has all the time stated diplomacy is his first choice.”
ABC Information Chief White Home Correspondent Mary Bruce requested Leavitt what made Trump consider there is a substantial likelihood for negotiation, however Leavitt declined to put out his pondering.
“I am not going to get into the reasoning and the rationale,” she stated. “The president believes that, however that is his place and he’ll decide inside the subsequent two weeks.”
The White Home stated correspondence has continued between america and the Iranians, although it wasn’t monitoring whether or not U.S. Particular Envoy to the Center East Steve Witkoff would attend talks in Geneva between European leaders and the Iranians.
In the meantime, Israel on Thursday made robust statements saying Iran’s supreme chief can’t proceed to “exist” — prompting questions of whether or not Israel now needs regime change in Iran. Leavitt was requested on Thursday whether or not the U.S. would become involved in such a situation.
“The president’s high precedence proper now’s making certain that Iran can’t receive a nuclear weapon and offering peace and stability within the Center East,” Leavitt stated.
ABC Information Chief International Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz contributed to this report.
