Iran’s installation of advanced nuclear infrastructure, including IR-2m centrifuges, risks enabling the regime to go nuclear “within a few weeks” once a political decision has been made to do so, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The prime minister spoke on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday and emphasized that Iran would not be allowed to cross the “red line” on enrichment that he had established at the United Nations last September:
NETANYAHU: I said if they continue to enrich at the same rate they will get there. They have taken heed of the red line that I sketched out at the U.N. They’re still approaching it and they’re approach after the Iranian elections. They’re building ICBMs to reach American — the American mainland within a few years. They’re pursuing an alternate route of plutonium, that is enriched uranium to build a nuclear bomb. One route, plutonium. Another route, ICBMs, intercontinental ballistic missiles to reach you. They don’t need these missiles to reach us, they already have missiles that can reach us. They’re doing that after the election. So they haven’t yet reached it but they’re getting closer to it. And they have to be stopped.
SCHIEFFER: There are reports in Israel, and our sources confirm, Prime Minister, that you want the United States to harden its position on Iran immediately and convey to the new government there that if Iran does not halt the nuclear program, its regime will not survive.
NETANYAHU: I think the important thing is what the U.S. has said. They said the words won’t influence us, what really counts is what the Iranians do. And what they have to do is stop their nuclear program. They have to stop all enrichment of nuclear material, to take out enriched uranium, to dismantle the illegal — and shut down the illegal nuclear facility in Qom. These are the right demands and those should be back up with ratcheted sanctions. You should ratchet up the sanctions and make it clear to Iran that they won’t get away with it. And if sanctions don’t work then they have to know that you’ll be prepared to take military action. That’s the only thing that will get their attention.
He also specifically responded to proposals being floated under which Iran would temporarily suspend some enrichment in exchange for a relief in international sanctions. Netanyahu emphasized that the concession was “insignificant and meaningless,” with the result of the deal being to give Iran time to lock in its advanced nuclear infrastructure.
At stake is a core assumption behind Western calculations under which further negotiations with Iran can be safely conducted. Western diplomats have argued that – should Iran make a decision to cross the nuclear finish line – the West would have enough time to detect the decision and intervene. The technology being installed by Iran would enhance by orders of magnitude the pace at which the regime could conduct enrichment, creating a situation under which the West might not have time to intervene. The scenario would undermine a core assumption behind ongoing engagement.
A meeting of the P5+1 Tuesday will bring together the world’s top powers to discuss moving forward with Iranian negotiations, and Washington has already publicly indicated that it is open to direct talks with Tehran. A new round of negotiations between Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog will not take place until August at the earliest.
[Photo: cbsnews.com]