US officials believe that a secret group of Iranian scientists is looking for ways to speed up the creation of nuclear weapons, sources said on Monday, reports The New York Times.

According to them, this conclusion is based on US intelligence data obtained in the final months of the administration of former US President Joe Biden, which were then provided to the national security team of new US President Donald Trump.

As per US intelligence services, Iranian military engineers and scientists are seeing a shortcut that would enable them to turn their growing stockpile of nuclear fuel into real weapons in months, not a year or several years.

This matter will almost certainly be discussed during Trump’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday.

In mid-January, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had said in an interview with NBC News that Tehran was not pursuing a goal of creating nuclear weapons.