Energy Secretary Chris Wright warned Wednesday that Iran is nearing the ability to produce weapons-grade enriched uranium, describing the threat as “frighteningly close.”

Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Wright said Iran’s uranium stockpile — which President Donald Trump has vowed to seize — places the regime only weeks away from reaching the level needed for a nuclear weapon.

“They are a small number of weeks away to enrich that to weapons-grade uranium. There’s still a weaponization process that happens after that, but they’re quite close,” he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Special envoy Steve Witkoff previously stated publicly that Iran had accumulated enough uranium enriched to 60% purity to potentially produce 11 nuclear bombs if the material were further enriched to 90%.

Nuclear experts note that reaching 60% enrichment represents a far more difficult technical achievement than advancing from 60% to 90%, the level considered weapons-grade.

Iran is believed to currently possess roughly 1,000 pounds of uranium enriched to 60%.

During the hearing, both Wright and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) agreed that the Islamic Republic is “only weeks away” from refining the material to weapons-grade levels.

Officials also noted that Iran maintains an additional 11 tons of uranium enriched at lower levels.