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Deal could double Iran breakout time: ex-US official

Former US Defense Department official Colin Kahl has said the deal proposed to Iran by the P5+1 would double the time it would take for the Islamic Republic to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb.
A general view of the Arak heavy-water project, 190 km (120 miles) southwest of Tehran January 15, 2011. A group of ambassadors to the U.N. atomic watchdog toured an Iranian nuclear site on Saturday, state television reported, and Tehran accused the European Union of missing an historic opportunity by boycotting the visit. REUTERS/ISNA/Hamid Forootan (IRAN - Tags: POLITICS ENERGY SCI TECH BUSINESS) - RTXWLWA

Washington, D.C.__ A former senior Obama Administration official told the House Foreign Affairs Committee today that the deal proposed to Iran by the P5+1 countries in Geneva last weekend would “double Iran’s breakout time.”

“That means it would take Iran twice as long” to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Colin Kahl told the committee. “That is meaningful. The deal puts firm restrictions on Iran building fuel assemblies for the Arak fuel reactor.” It would “increase the inspections regime. [It] serves US and Israeli interests.”

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