Iran Has Enough Enriched Uranium to Build 4 Nuclear Bombs
By Joel C. Rosenberg (Washington, D.C., January 10, 2011) -- "Officials say Iran already has enough low-enriched uranium stockpiled to create as many as four atomic weapons if it decided to further process the fuel," reports the Wall Street Journal this morning. gThe U.S. and the IAEA also worry Iran could have deployed advanced centrifuges at clandestine sites."To put this in context, in September 2009, Israel's former Ambassador to the U.N. Dore Gold told me that the latest U.N. report at the time indicated Iran had enough low-enriched uranium (LEU) to build two nuclear bombs, should it take the LEU to 90%-plus weapons purity. That said, evidence continues to surface in the media that economic sanctions and covert operations to slow down Iran's development of nuclear weapons are working. Iran may have the LEU, but it doesn't seem to have the other materials needed to actually build or test atomic bombs yet it would seem -- at least not yet. Indeed, last week, the outgoing head of the Mossad said he felt Iran wouldn't likely be able to build operations nuclear weapons until 2015. Washington officials, therefore, believe the likelihood of an Israeli war with Iran over the nuclear issue has declined somewhat in the near-term. "The Obama administration has concluded that Iran's nuclear program has been slowed by a combination of sanctions, sabotage and Iran's own technical troubles," noted columnist David Ignatius in yesterday's Washington Post. "ecause of the delay, U.S. officials see what one describes as 'a little bit of space' before any military showdown with Iran. A senior Obama administration official [said], 'They're not moving as fast as we had feared a year ago.'This new assessment of Iran's nuclear setbacks has lowered the temperature on what had been 2010's hottest strategic issue. Last summer, Jerusalem and Washington were talking themselves into a war fever, prompted in part by a powerful article in the Atlantic by Jeffrey Goldberg that starkly described the likelihood of military action. This fever seems to have broken." This is good news, but let's not stop praying for the peace of Jerusalem. More details on my blog, including: * Iranian officials claim to have arrested an Israeli spy ring. Is it true, or propaganda? * American released after Iran drops trumped up spy charges * Sec. Clinton is touring Persian Gulf countries with this message: Arab regimes need to confront Iran more on the nuclear issue * Wave of violent persecution hits Christians in Middle East -- 10 ways to pray
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