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Will Iran Simply Further Enrich Russian-Enriched Nuclear Fuel?

[National Review] Michael Rubin - U.S. officials have yet to acknowledge that Iranian confirmation of its second enrichment plant belied the veracity of the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate. Tehran's decision to confess when confronted with proof of cheating should not be considered the same as Iranian transparency and goodwill. While Iranian authorities pledged to ship uranium to Russia for further enrichment, the West has no guarantee that Iranian scientists will not simply enrich the fuel further when it is repatriated to Iran. Israeli officials across their political spectrum consider a nuclear-weapons-capable Islamic Republic of Iran an existential threat. Yet because the Western world does not share Israel's threat perception, it is neither likely to force upon Iran the degree of coercion necessary to achieve a change of regime behavior, nor is it willing to lay the groundwork to assist Iranians seeking fundamental change in the nature of their regime. The writer is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
2009-10-05 06:00:00
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