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Biden's Iran de-escalation strategy backfiring as regime close to producing atomic bomb
Time to do 'the Houti'?[WallStreetPR - FoxNews] Top Iran experts in the U.S. and in Israel are warning President Biden that his administration’s strategy of de-escalation and containment targeting the world’s worst state-sponsor of terrorism – the Islamic Republic of Iran – has failed and America needs to reestablish deterrence against Tehran as fears of the regime obtaining a nuclear device grow. Alarming reports about Iran moving at an astonishingly fast pace to possess a nuclear weapon have emerged since last month. In December, Reuters reported that a confidential IAEA report released to member states said it had “increased its production of highly enriched uranium, reversing a previous output reduction from mid-2023.” Reuters also said in its report “that Iran is enriching to up to 60%, close to the roughly 90% that is weapons grade, at its Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP) in its sprawling Natanz complex and at its Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), which is dug into a mountain.” In a report titled “How quickly could Iran make nuclear weapons today?” published earlier this month by David Albright, a physicist and founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security, stated, “The long pole in the tent of building nuclear weapons is essentially complete. Iran can quickly make enough weapon-grade uranium for many nuclear weapons, something it could not do in 2003.” Albright said Iran had a “crash nuclear weapons program” up until 2003, which it then changed to a “more dispersed nuclear weapons effort.” In his report, Albright, a former U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq, wrote, “Today, it would need only about a week to produce enough for its first nuclear weapon. It could have enough weapon-grade uranium for six weapons in one month, and after five months of producing weapon-grade uranium, it could have enough for 12.” Asked by Fox News Digital about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, a State Department spokesperson said, “As the President and the Secretary have made clear, the United States will ensure one way or another that Iran will never obtain a nuclear weapon. We continue to use a variety of tools in pursuit of that goal, and all options remain on the table. As the Secretary has said, we always prefer diplomacy to achieve that goal, but given Iran’s nuclear escalations and its failure to cooperate with the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency], unfortunately we are far away from anything like that right now.” Gabriel Noronha, a former U.S. Department State adviser on Iran, told Fox News Digital, “Biden’s hope has been to bribe Iran not to advance its nuclear program through economic concessions and non-enforcement of sanctions. Iran advanced its nuclear program anyway and pocketed the extra revenue from oil sales to increase funding to its terror proxies. We have had zero wins on the Iran file in the past three years, but seen their strength return from their weakened state during the policy of maximum pressure.” Related: Enriched uranium: 2023-12-20 Iran accused of illegally testing missiles, sending drones to Russia, enriching uranium Enriched uranium: 2023-12-15 US Congress Votes to Ban Imports of Russian Nuclear Fuel - Starting in January 2028 Enriched uranium: 2023-11-17 Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium is 22 times above 2015 deal’s limit, says IAEA Posted by: Skidmark 2024-01-14 |
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