It was recently discovered that Iran had enriched Uranium far beyond the point needed to run a nuclear power reactor of any size, A recent inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) made the discovery that Iran had enriched uranium to more than 83% — a level just below the 90% level needed to create a chain reaction in a bomb allowing a nuclear detonation.
Colin Kahl, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, told a House committee hearing on Wednesday that Iran was “about 12 days” from having the capability “to build one nuclear bomb.”
However, all IAEA chief Rafael Grossi could think to say on a visit to Tehran was that any attack on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure would be “illegal.”
“I think any attack, any military attack on a nuclear facility is outlaw [sic], is out of the normative structures that we all abide by,” Grossi said at a press conference in Tehran.
“We certainly hope that we are going to be able to protect the nuclear power plant which is under threat now, which is [Ukraine’s] Zaporizhzhia,” Grossi said. “But this is valid and applicable to every nuclear facility in the world.”
Grossi said Saturday he had “constructive” meetings with Iranian officials in Tehran after the discovery of uranium particles enriched to near weapons-grade level.
The two-day visit by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) comes as the Vienna-based organization seeks greater cooperation with Iran over its nuclear activities.
“By having a constructive discussion… and having good agreements, like I am sure we are going to have, we are going to be paving the way for important agreements,” Rafael Grossi told a news conference alongside Iran’s top nuclear official Mohammad Eslami.
Any agreements with the IAEA would be laughable. The highly enriched uranium found at the Fordow nuclear facility where Iran has been using its advanced centrifuges to more efficiently spin up uranium to very high enrichment levels. When confronted about the 83% level of enriched uranium, the Iranians kind of shrugged their shoulders and said that “unintended fluctuations… may have occurred” during the enrichment process.
That’s a load of crap, and the IAEA knows it. But Grossi hasn’t even asked about an even more worrisome development in Iran’s nuclear program.
The discovery came after Iran had substantially modified an interconnection between two centrifuge clusters enriching uranium, without declaring it to the IAEA.
The explanation from Iran, however, likely won’t be enough to satisfy Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened military actions against Tehran, and Israel and Iran have been engaged in a high-stakes shadow war across the wider Middle East since the nuclear deal’s collapse.
War is coming. And if Israel strikes Iran — now an ally of both Russia and China — the prospect of widening the conflict increases.
Cool heads and steady hands on the tiller are what’s needed in Washington now. Instead, we’ve got an 80-year-old president whose mental abilities are fading and an administration eager to show the American voter how tough they are in advance of the 2024 election.
Not a good combination.
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