The International Atomic Energy Agency is calling Iran and Syria out for their secret nuclear activities, specifically warning of Iranian work on nuclear warheads. The incriminating reports may pave the way for additional sanctions on the two rogue states that will, hopefully, delay Iran’s drive for a nuclear bomb.
The IAEA says it has notified Iran that it has reason to believe its nuclear program has “possible military dimensions,” a phrase used to describe nuclear weapons. The agency says it has received new information showing secret activity since 2004 and as recently as 2010. The information is “related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile,” specifically the Shahab-3. This is the same missile that the regime has displayed in parades, accompanied with the words, “Israel Must Be Wiped Off the Map.”
The IAEA points out that Iran declared that it produced 3.6 metric tons of low-enriched uranium since 2007, but the real amount is 4.1 tons. This undeclared amount is enough for two nuclear weapons. Furthermore, the agency concluded that “Iran has sufficient information to be able to design and produce a workable implosion nuclear device” in 2009. The agency is demanding that Iran fully cooperate by opening up all suspected nuclear sites for inspection and allowing full access to technology and personnel.
The report comes as far-left reporter Seymour Hersh writes that there is no evidence that Iran is pursuing a nuclear bomb. The Obama White House reacted with a “collective eye roll.” One senior administration official said, “[all] you need to read to be deeply concerned about Iran’s nuclear program is the substantial body of information already in the public domain, including the most recent IAEA report.”
Indeed, to assume that Iran is innocent in its “energy program” is to give it an undeserved benefit of the doubt to the utmost extreme. It has pursued nuclear activity despite severe international pressure. In November 2009, Iran even announced plans to build 10 more enrichment sites. It has refused to agree to reasonable deals to have its uranium enriched outside of Iran, choosing to instead endure sanctions. The scope of the program “far exceeds what’s needed to turn on the lights, but it’s also beyond what’s needed for a basic nuclear weapons program.”
In September 2009, the U.S., U.K. and France exposed the existence of a secret enrichment site inside a mountain in Qom under the control of the Revolutionary Guards. The site is designed to store 3,000 centrifuges, far less than what is necessary for a domestic energy program but enough to make the fuel for a nuclear bomb annually. In November, testimony aired of an alleged nuclear scientist kidnapped by the militant Jundullah group. The scientist said he worked for three years at another secret enrichment site 15 kilometers southeast of the Isfahan uranium conversion site. He boosted his credibility by giving away the names of other scientists and engineers and saying where they live.
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