Friday, February 22, 2008

European Union experts: Iran Could Have Enough Uranium for a Bomb by Year's End

Readers might remember that in December the NIE issued a report that was hailed by some as proof that Iran does not post as much of a threat as originally thought. Many questioned that assumption and pointed out that the report left more questions than it provided answers for.

The European Union experts beg to differ with that NIE report and are calling it "inaccurate".

Simulations carried out by European Union experts come to a disturbing conclusion: Iran could have enough highly enriched uranium to build an atomic bomb by the end of this year.

It didn't take long for experts to question the report's conclusion that Tehran was no longer interested in building the bomb. And now, a new computer simulation undertaken by European Union experts indicates that the NIE's time estimates might be dangerously inaccurate as well -- and that Iran might have enough fuel for a bomb much earlier than was previously thought.

As part of a project to improve control of nuclear materials, the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra, Italy set up a detailed simulation of the centrifuges currently used by Iran in the Natanz nuclear facility to enrich uranium. The results look nothing like those reached by the US intelligence community.


The article goes on to detail the tests, how they were performed, the results and the conclusions of the European Union on the basis of their experiments.

After the recent killing of Imad Mughniyeh, also known as Hajj Radwan, a Hesbollah commander, we showed threats issued against Israel, who Hesbollah believes was behind the killing of Imad Mughniyeh.

Those statements were followed up by globally reported statements coming out of Iran regarding Israel also, specifically from Iranian Parliament Speaker Gholam Hadad, who said "countdown to Israel's destruction has begun." That was reported in an Iranian newspaper as well as other comments from remarks made by Iranian officials regarding Israel this week.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday called Israel a "filthy germ" and "savage beast". The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has called those statements "unacceptable".

In 2005, many might remember Ahmadinejad's threat to "wipe Israel off the map", as well.

With the stage set, the publicly stated threats against Israel being made and continuing to escalate, and this latest report from the European Union experts, one has to wonder before the tense situation in the Middle east will also escalate into Nuclear War, which will make the present problems they are dealing with look like child's play.

[Update] The IAEA weighs in via the NYT, by confronting Iran with Weapons evidence, which of course Iran denies.

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