Israel Matzav

How Obama is letting Iran build a nuclear bomb

Earlier this week, it was reported that President Obama told Prime Minister Netanyahu that by the end of this year, the United States should have a sense of whether its 'strategy' of 'engaging' with Iran is working. Unfortunately, the end of this year is likely all the time Iran needs to finish constructing a nuclear bomb.

Under pressure from a visiting Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to explain the latest White House position on Iran, a relaxed Mr Obama remarked: "We should have a fairly good sense by the end of the year as to whether [the Iranians] are moving in the right direction."

The only problem with this somewhat lackadaisical approach to the most pressing security issue of the modern age is that, come the end of the year, Iran's development of a nuclear weapon will be a fait accompli.

At the heart of the international campaign to persuade Tehran to halt its programme is the awareness that, according to intelligence estimates, Iran will by the end of this year have sufficient quantities of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to build a nuclear warhead. Even the most doveish intelligence analysts agree that 2,000 kilos would be sufficient for an atom bomb, and in March, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog, confirmed that Iran had so far successfully produced half of that amount in its uranium enrichment facility at Natanz.

Natanz has the capacity to produce 100 kilos of LEU a month, which means that, unless Tehran can be persuaded to halt its enrichment activities, it will have all the fuel it needs to produce a bomb by the end of year – just when Mr Obama will be looking to Tehran to respond to his peace overtures.

Hopenchange anyone?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:01 PM