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Is the U.S. Determined Enough to Confront Iran?

(Ha'aretz) Emily B. Landau - According to the P5+1 negotiators, the interim deal with Iran has halted aspects of Iran's nuclear activities and even led to some rollback of the program. Unfortunately, missing from this narrative is that in some important respects, Iran's nuclear program is also progressing dangerously. The most important issue regards research and development on ever more advanced generations of Iranian centrifuges. The interim agreement did not prevent Iran from conducting R&D into any aspect of advanced new generation centrifuges, as long as it does not operate them. When stockpiles of low enriched uranium - which Iran continues to churn out at an increased rate - are fed into the advanced centrifuges under development, Iran will very quickly be able to enrich to the high levels needed for nuclear weapons. It is truly misguided to desist from delving into past military-related activities in order not to "upset" the Iranians or interfere with negotiations on a new deal. Any comprehensive deal must reveal the military dimensions of Iran's program, about which Iran has lied and cheated for decades. The writer is a senior research associate at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
2014-03-18 00:00:00
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