Mark Toth and Jonathan Sweet
The Hill, Aug. 29, 2024
“David Albright reports for the Institute for Science and International Security that Iran could have enough weapons-grade HEU to build three nukes in 10 days, five nuclear weapons in a month and a total of nine in 60 days. Of course, constructing them is one thing, and delivering them is another.”
Figuratively speaking, all roads in Iran are dangerously leading to Tehran’s nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz. From there, they are increasingly interconnected in spider-like fashion to dozens of other nuclear weapons sites strategically located throughout the vast country nearly the size of Alaska.
Iran is hellbent on achieving a nuclear endgame. To achieve it, though, it needs more time. Playing for time is now Tehran’s number one strategic tactic in becoming a nuclear power. It informs everything that the country does in its calculus against the West. This is why Tehran appears to be holding back from immediate retaliation against Israel for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran — and why, if it happens in the near term, it likely will be limited and symbolic. It may also underpin Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s new statement that there is “no harm” to resuming nuclear negotiations with Washington.
Time is the one commodity Washington does not have. Despite the prevailing view that Iran’s nuclear program had been curtailed since 2015, the reality is that Tehran has been accelerating its nuclear weapons program all along. For too long, the West — as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency — failed to call out Iran’s ambitions. Instead, diplomatic euphemisms were employed and the growing radioactive nuclear white elephant in Tehran was ignored. No longer. .. [To read the full article, click here]