(Institute for National Security Studies-Tel Aviv University) Ephraim Asculai - On Feb. 8, Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, announced that Iran began enriching uranium from 3.5 to 20% uranium-235, demonstrating Iran's complete defiance of the international position regarding its nuclear development program. If Iran amasses a stock of 20% enriched uranium, then the time needed to break out and produce nuclear weapons becomes quite short. Looking at the history of the long, drawn out process behind international decisions on how to deal with the Iranian issue, one can only conclude that if Iran has a stock of 20% enriched uranium, it can no longer be considered a threshold state, but a full-fledged nuclear power. The recent announcements concerning the strengthening by the U.S. of the missile defenses in the Gulf region could be taken as a sign that the U.S. has almost given up hope that Iran could be persuaded, either diplomatically or through severe sanctions, to at least suspend, if not dismantle, its uranium enrichment operations. The wisdom of hindsight indicates that the October 2009 proposal by the U.S. for the nuclear fuel deal only accelerated Iran's program towards achieving a nuclear weapons capability by providing Iran with an excuse to enrich uranium to 20%.
2010-02-17 08:02:12Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive