ASPEN, COLORADO — U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken warned on Friday that Iran is now "probably one or two weeks away" from being able to produce enough weapons-grade material for a nuclear weapon.

Blinken, speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, highlighted the rapid progression of Iran's nuclear capabilities since the abandonment of the nuclear agreement.

"Iran, because of the nuclear agreement being thrown out, instead of being at least a year away from having the breakout capacity of producing fissile material for a nuclear weapon, is now probably one or two weeks away from doing that," he said.

While Iran has not yet produced a nuclear weapon, Blinken emphasized that this remains a closely monitored situation.

"They haven’t produced a weapon itself, but that’s something, of course, that we track very, very carefully," he added.

The Secretary of State reaffirmed that the U.S. policy aims to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, expressing a preference for achieving this goal through diplomatic means. — Agencies