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Appeasement Won't Reduce the Peril of a Nuclear Iran
(Telegraph-UK) Mark Kirk - Ayatollah Khamenei wants to build and maintain a nuclear weapons capability - not to construct an atomic device immediately, but to have the technical ability to do so at a moment of his choosing. Such a capability might include the ability to produce weapons-grade uranium, the ability to produce plutonium, and the ability to launch missiles capable of travelling long distances with heavy payloads. Iran has already mastered the technical ability to enrich uranium beyond the lower levels suitable for electricity generation. So the large and growing stockpile of low-enriched uranium at its Natanz facility presents no less of a danger than the smaller stockpile of medium-enriched uranium at Fordow. With the installation of advanced centrifuges at Natanz, Iran could agree to suspend all enrichment at the Fordow facility and still be in a position to produce weapons-grade uranium without detection by the middle of next year. According to official U.S. estimates, Iran could flight-test an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching both sides of the Atlantic by 2015. Seven years ago, the Security Council ordered Iran to halt its entire nuclear program. We should not change course now and reward the Islamic Republic for agreeing to do something far less. My colleagues in the U.S. Senate and I will not be fooled by hollow declarations of "peace for our time." We will not accept any level of uranium enrichment on Iranian soil. We will not accept an Iranian plutonium reactor. And unless we see Iran take immediate steps to comply with all its Security Council obligations, we will move forward with a new round of sanctions targeting all remaining Iranian revenue and reserves. The writer is a U.S. senator (R-Ill.).