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Newsweek: Sanity on the Iran threat

Newsweek: Sanity on the Iran threat
Published 11 Oct 2013   Follow @SamRoggeveen

From its latest cover story:

...some policymakers don’t understand how hard it is to make a nuclear bomb. Iran could not simply obtain weapons-grade material, snap a warhead onto a missile and start blowing up parts of the world. Engineering a delivery mechanism, testing of the weapons themselves and taking innumerable other steps would be required before Iran could be a credible threat. Pakistan could develop a bomb slowly, without worrying that perturbed Western nations would attack; Iran doesn’t have that luxury.

And this quote from Benjamin Netanyahu is just too perfect:

"Within three to five years, we can assume that Iran will become autonomous in its ability to develop and produce a nuclear bomb, without having to import either the technology or the material,” he said. “[The nuclear threat] must be uprooted by an international front headed by the U.S."

Why perfect? He was speaking in 1995.

Mind you, the piece is too sanguine on Iran's record. To say that the biggest legitimate complaint about Tehran's nuclear activities is its 'spotty' record of cooperation with the IAEA surely understates the case. What about the links to the AQ Khan network? What about the secret underground enrichment facilities? What about it sustained refusal to cooperate with the IAEA on the military dimensions of its nuclear program.

(H/t Sullivan.)



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