David Albright’s assessment this month of Iran’s Nuclear Program clearly indicates that time is running out to deal militarily with this potential catastrophe. Albright is a leading expert on Iran’s nuclear capabilities and the President of the renowned Institute for Science and International Security.
Albright believes that Iran will accumulate enough low-enriched uranium this year “to make one nuclear weapon.” In a New York Times interview, Albright asserted that “even if Iran runs out of uranium, they have more than enough to eventually produce tens of nuclear weapons.”
Further complicating this issue according to Albright is the probability that Iran would divert low-enriched uranium from the well-known Natanz enrichment plant to secret facilities we know little, or nothing about.
At these facilities the Iranians could produce weapons-grade uranium. If you believe that a military strike on Natanz (or a similar facility) is the answer, the time for that action is imminent.
Albright does not propose military action (although he does not rule it
out) because he does not believe that it will work. He prefers a multipronged international approach including incentives, sanctions, negotiations, etc. to gain an Iranium suspension of uranium enrichment.
In his opinion, military action is unlikely to be effective unless it includes a massive campaign that means going to war against Iran. Even then, Albright believes that might not be enough to stop Iran’s nuclear program as the facilities they would need to produce nuclear weapons are not that large.
Time is running out to address this critical national security issue. Even the leading experts on the issue are divided on a solution.
Something needs to be done – now or never.
