WASHINGTON, June 19. /TASS/. The Washington administration believes that Iran has the ability to create nuclear weapons within "a couple of weeks" if its leadership makes such a decision, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
"Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon, all they need is a decision from the supreme leader to do that, and it would take a couple of weeks to complete the production of that weapon," she said. According to the spokeswoman, doing so would "pose an existential threat not just to Israel, but to the US and to the entire world." "That is something that the entire world, including countries like Russia, is in agreement that Iran should not and cannot obtain a nuclear weapon," Leavitt noted.
Previously, US President Donald Trump had not ruled out the possibility of striking Iran. The spokeswoman read out a brief statement from the US leader at the briefing. It said Trump would decide on possible strikes within two weeks.
Overnight into June 13, Israel kicked off Operation Rising Lion aimed against Iran’s nuclear program. Less than 24 hours later, Iran launched a retaliatory attack. In the following days, Tel Aviv and Tehran exchanged strikes again. Both sides reported casualties resulting from these attacks and acknowledged hits on several targets within their territories, though they claimed the damage was limited.