All they need is one aimed right at Israel. Just in time for President-elect Obama. How will he handle it? And will Israel do a preemptive strike before Obama takes office or wait until they see how he handles the situation?
Iran has now produced roughly enough nuclear material to make, with added purification, a single atom bomb, according to nuclear experts analyzing the latest report from global atomic inspectors.
The figures detailing Iran’s progress were contained in a routine update on Wednesday from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has been conducting inspections of the country’s main nuclear plant at Natanz. The report concluded that as of early this month, Iran had made 630 kilograms, or about 1,390 pounds, of low-enriched uranium.
Several experts said that was enough for a bomb, but they cautioned that the milestone was mostly symbolic, because Iran would have to take additional steps. Not only would it have to breach its international agreements and kick out the inspectors, but it would also have to further purify the fuel and put it into a warhead design — a technical advance that Western experts are unsure Iran has yet achieved.
If I were Israel, I wouldn’t take the chance that Obama will do anything. I’d take the hit and then clean up the diplomatic mess afterward. What could the world do? Condemn the actions but secretly be happy that someone took action against the madmen with the bomb. Though, I don’t think Israel probably has the capability or will to do it. It wouldn’t be easy and would involve getting hit from Hezbollah and Hamas as well as Iran after they did it. They’re toast no matter what they do.
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posted November 20, 2008 at 11:10 am
Obama will “feel Israel’s pain” and “strongly condemn” Iran.____By the time Iran has finished the missle, we will have already traded away any objections to it in return for “a reduction in rhetoric”.
posted November 20, 2008 at 12:39 pm
One bomb against at least 400. The Iranians would not last very long.
posted November 20, 2008 at 2:19 pm
They’ll need more than the fuel for one bomb. They’ll need to test their design to be sure it works and if there’s a failure they’ll need more fuel.
When North Korea tested their design it produced a low yield because either their weapon design was flawed, or their plutonium was impure. While a uranium bomb has more tolerances there are similar issues to deal with.
The other thing that isn’t discussed is that designs must be high yield and small enough to fit on a missle or bomber to be useful.
posted November 21, 2008 at 1:43 am
And a pre-emptive strike by Israel on Iran for the bomb they may mor may not have would result in the oil spigots being turned off for you and me. Have you already forgotten about the WMD Saddam claimed he was working on that were never found? Because they didn’t exist?
posted November 21, 2008 at 1:17 pm
their plutonium isn’t even close to being weapons-grade. it has taken iran more than a year to enrich the plutonium isotopes to be 5% pure, and they would need to enrich it to the point of being 95% pure. they may have enough in *quantity* but not at all in *quality*. and yet, all their plutonium is under the watchful eye of the iaea. but that won’t stop michele from wanting to nuke run-of-the-mill iranians (can i call them “joe the iranian?”) who happen to have a nutjob for a leader (like we currently do).
posted November 21, 2008 at 7:33 pm
anonymous reincarnate, Iran is enriching uranium, not plutonium. As I understand it uranium is easier to deal than plutonium. In addition uranium also has a legitimate use in civilian power plants, so you have a cover story for why you have enrichment facilities.
In theory you can burn plutonium in power plants too, but you need a power plant to breed plutonium since there’s almost none in nature. As a result it produces fuel at a higher cost than natural uranium, so a plutonium enrichment facility is a dead giveaway that you’re working on a bomb.