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Gold9472
04-12-2006, 01:09 PM
Iran Could Produce Nuclear Bomb in 16 Days, U.S. Says

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=awSzbHpjozAo&refer=top_world_news

April 12 (Bloomberg) -- Iran, which is defying United Nations Security Council demands to cease its nuclear program, may be capable of making a nuclear bomb within 16 days if it goes ahead with plans to install thousands of centrifuges at its Natanz plant, a U.S. State Department official said.

"Natanz was constructed to house 50,000 centrifuges," Stephen Rademaker, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation, told reporters today in Moscow. "Using those 50,000 centrifuges they could produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon in 16 days."

In fact, Iran will move forward to "industrial scale" uranium enrichment involving 54,000 centrifuges at Natanz, the Associated Press quoted deputy nuclear chief Mohammad Saeedi as telling state-run television today.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday the country had succeeded in enriching uranium on a small scale for the first time, using 164 centrifuges. That announcement defies demands by the UN Security Council that Iran shut down its nuclear program this month.

The U.S. and other countries fear Iran is pursuing a nuclear program to make weapons, while Iran says it is intent on purely civilian purposes, to provide energy. Saeedi said 54,000 centrifuges will be able to enrich uranium to provide fuel for a 1,000-megawat nuclear power plant similar to the one Russia is finishing in southern Iran, AP reported.

"It was a deeply disappointing announcement," Rademaker said of Ahmadinejad's statement.

Weapons-Grade Uranium
Rademaker said the technology to enrich uranium to a low level could also be used to make weapons-grade uranium, saying that it would take a little over 13 years to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon with the 164 centrifuges currently in use. The process involves placing uranium hexafluoride gas in a series of rotating drums or cylinders known as centrifuges that run at high speeds to extract weapons grade uranium.

Iran has informed the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency that it plans to construct 3,000 centrifuges at Natanz next year, Rademaker said.

"We calculate that a 3,000-machine cascade could produce enough uranium to build a nuclear weapon within 271 days," he said.

While the U.S. has concerns over Iran's nuclear program, Rademaker said "there certainly has been no decision on the part of my government" to use force if Iran refuses to obey the UN Security Council demand that it shuts down its nuclear program.

Rademaker is in Moscow for a meeting of his counterparts from the Group of Eight wealthy industrialized countries. Russia chairs the G-8 this year.

Partridge
04-12-2006, 02:28 PM
The Wall Street Journal is calling for war (http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008221) and the use of 'low yield' nuclear bunker-busters. (The WSJ editorial page is pretty much the voice of the 'right-wing' of the US ruling class).

Meanwhile the editorial page of the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/11/opinion/11tue1.html?_r=1&th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin) (the voice of the 'liberal-wing' of the US ruling class) is saying that war with Iran would be 'reckless folly' citing reasons of real-politick (angry Muslims) rather than any principled opposition to imperialist aggression:



War with Iran would be reckless folly, especially with most of America's ground forces tied up in Iraq, where they are particularly vulnerable to retaliation from Iran and its Iraqi Shiite allies. Nor is there any guarantee that such a conflict would remain limited to airstrikes. Bombing alone probably cannot destroy all of Iran's nuclear facilities, some of which are underground and fortified, and possibly others in unknown locations. In fact, Iran already has much of the material and know-how to make nuclear bombs, and is believed to be about 10 years away from building them. The best hope for avoiding a nuclear-armed Iran lies in encouraging political evolution there over the next decade. It is important to make clear to the Iranian people that they have no need for nuclear weapons and would actually be better off without them.

Years of frustrating diplomacy have not managed to deflect Iran's nuclear ambitions, but American airstrikes are not likely to either. The best they could hope to achieve is delay, but that result would be far outweighed by the likely consequences.

An American bombing campaign would surely rally the Iranian people behind the radical Islamic government and the nuclear program, with those effects multiplied exponentially if the Pentagon itself resorted to nuclear weapons in the name of trying to stop Iran from building nuclear bombs.

somebigguy
04-12-2006, 03:06 PM
"Could" produce a bomb.

Not "will" produce or bomb or "has" produced a bomb or "has any intention of" producing a bomb.

Gold9472
04-12-2006, 03:20 PM
"Could" produce a bomb.

Not "will" produce or bomb or "has" produced a bomb or "has any intention of" producing a bomb.

Here's the motherfuckin' bottom line.

Hanx Blix said YESTERDAY that Iran is 5 years away from a nuclear weapon.

The U.S. Intelligence Review said they were at least 10 years away from having a nuclear weapon.

Iran is NOT about Nuclear weapons.

If we are so terrified of countries that have nuclear weapons, we would attack North Korea who HAS nuclear weapons. We would attack India who HAS nuclear weapons. We would attack Pakistan who HAS nuclear weapons. We would attack Israel who HAS nuclear weapons. We would attack Saudi Arabia who is trying to build a nuclear weapon.

somebigguy
04-12-2006, 03:39 PM
I concur dude. Notice this time its not "WMDs", its "nuclear weapons". People are falling for the same scam twice, and they don't even realize it...

Gold9472
04-26-2006, 03:28 PM
Only 2 more days until Iran "has" a nuclear weapon.

PhilosophyGenius
04-26-2006, 03:58 PM
Am I the only person in America who doesnt give a shit whether Iran has a nuke or not? Seriously, if I had nuclear secrets laying around my house and Admajad asked me for em', I'd just give it to him.

beltman713
04-26-2006, 04:43 PM
I think what they didn't say was that if Iran had 50,000 centrifuges, they could build a bomb in 16 days. Seeing as how they are only known to have 164 centrifuges, it would take 5 or more years.

rayrayjones
04-26-2006, 05:34 PM
I think what they didn't say was that if Iran had 50,000 centrifuges, they could build a bomb in 16 days. Seeing as how they are only known to have 164 centrifuges, it would take 5 or more years.

good call, they have yet to say how long it would take to build those 50000 centrifuges, so when that happens...then we have 16 days....then they have to find/build the missile technolgy to launch them.

their longest range missiles can only hit their neighbors.

THEY ARE NOT A THREAT TO AMERICANS....only our friends in the region (if they are in fact our friends...ok, ok, ok, only our beneficiaries in the region)

Gold9472
03-10-2007, 06:18 PM
Has it been 16 days yet?

AuGmENTor
03-10-2007, 06:26 PM
Yeah this sounds like the same cloudy intelligence that put us in Iraq. So what happens when we get in there and find out, yeah, there were no weapons grade material anywhere to be found. Oh, I remember, NOT A FUCKING THING! We LET them do it to us again.

MrDark71
03-11-2007, 08:07 AM
"having nuclear capabilities"= having a stable government that doesn't bend over for Washington