(AP) Iran ready to ramp up nuke program

Posted by Kendall Harmon

Iran is on the threshold of being able to create weapons-grade uranium at a plant it has heavily fortified against Israeli attack, diplomats told The Associated Press on Thursday, calling into question an Israeli claim that Iran had slowed its nuclear time table.

One of three diplomats who discussed the issue said Iran was now technically ready within days to ramp up its production of 20 percent enriched uranium at its Fordo facility by nearly 700 centrifuges. That would double present output, and cut in half the time it would take to acquire enough of the substance needed to make a nuclear weapon, reducing it to just over three months.

Such a move would raise the stakes for Israel, which has said it believes the world has until next summer to stop Iran before it can get nuclear material and implied it would have time to decide whether to strike Fordo and other Iranian nuclear facilities.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Science & Technology • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Middle East • Iran

4 Comments
Posted November 15, 2012 at 7:44 pm [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. Br. Michael wrote:

A nuclear Iran will be a reality.  No one has the will, or can think of a way, to stop it, so we better get used to it.

November 16, 7:34 am | [comment link]
2. Cennydd13 wrote:

They’ve been making threats to mine the Strait of Hormuz, and they have the capability to do that, but if they do, that means we’ll be forced to sweep those mines, and there will be an armed confrontation.  Actually, there has been a sort of naval war going on in the region for several years, and the situation could get serious.  If they do develop a nuclear weapons capability, it will likely mean a strike by Israel (the Israelis are not kidding, by the way), and the results would completely disrupt the flow of oil…..with all that that will mean.

November 16, 6:32 pm | [comment link]
3. MichaelA wrote:

I expect it can be stopped, but squeamishness will be a luxury that the West cannot afford.  Too many people in the West cannot face up to the reality of military operations, where our own people get killed, other people get killed, and nasty things happen.

If it is the Israelis that have been assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists then I hope they continue doing it.  But if further measures are needed, I hope and expect that Western governments are prepare to get their hands dirty alongside the Israelis.

November 16, 11:54 pm | [comment link]
4. Cennydd13 wrote:

If it means national survival, and by that I mean their economies, they will.  When you have that much at stake, you risk losing everything if you don’t take decisive action to prevent that happening.  Military action will be necessary.

November 17, 12:11 pm | [comment link]
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