Daily Press Briefing, Sean McCormack, Spokesman, Washington, DC, November 20, 2008(excerpts)-During US State Department’s daily press briefing, a reporter asked Sean McCormack, State Department’s Spokesman: “On Iran, The New York Times is reporting today that they have enough fissile material for one potentially one nuclear bomb. Any reaction to that?”

McCormack said: Well, it’s concerning, and this is a matter that will be taken up next week at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting. And we would urge the Board of Governors to send a very strong message to Iran that they must comply with the demands of the international community. Certainly, we will be working within the Security Council to determine what else might be done. And of course, we will continue to look at ourselves – what further steps might be taken in the financial sanctions area to try to prevent – cut off that pathway for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon, and work with other countries to do that as well.
You know, in terms of the estimates, how much LEU, low enriched uranium, do you need potentially for a – one nuclear weapon, I’m going to leave that to the experts. I think there are varying estimates just in that news article that you cited. You know, some said it was enough, others said it was not enough but close. In any case, you don’t want Iran to get close, and that’s why we’ve been pursuing the policy that we have been.