Monday, June 6, 2011

Researcher: Iran 60 Days Away From Bomb; IAEA: More signs of Military Nuclear Program

CHALLAH @ Ynet

The Iranian regime is closer than ever before to creating a nuclear bomb, according to RAND Corporation researcher Gregory S. Jones.

At its current rate of uranium enrichment, Tehran could have enough for its first bomb within eight weeks, Jones said in a report published this week.

He added that despite reports of setbacks in its nuclear program, the Iranian regime is steadily progressing towards a bomb. Unfortunately, Jones says, there is nothing the US can do to stop Tehran, short of military occupation.

The researcher based his report on recent findings by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), published two weeks ago. Making the bomb will take around two months, he says, because constructing a nuclear warhead is a complicated step in the process.

Jones stresses that stopping Iran will require deploying forces on the ground, because airstrikes are no longer sufficient. The reality is that the US and Israel have failed to keep Iran from developing a nuclear warhead whenever it wants, Jones says.

CHALLAH @ Reuters

The UN atomic watchdog has received further information regarding activities that "seem to point to the existence" of possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program, the agency's head said on Monday.

"There are indications that certain of these activities may have continued until recently," Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in a speech to the agency's 35-nation governing board.

Amano's statement underlined the UN body's concern that the Islamic Republic may be working to develop a nuclear-armed missile. Tehran rejects such suspicions, saying its nuclear program has only civilian aims, mainly generating electricity.

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Iran Says Its Submarines are in the Red Sea

by Gil Ronen

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Iran has sent military submarines to the Red Sea, according to the semi-officialFars news agency.

"Iranian military submarines entered the Red Sea waters with the goal of collecting information and identifying other countries' combat vessels," Fars said in a Tuesday report, citing an unidentified source.

It did not say how many submarines were involved or what type they were but noted they had sailed alongside warships from the Iranian Navy's 14th fleet.

State-run Press TV said in a report earlier in May that the 14th fleet – which is comprised of two vessels, the warship Bandar Abbas and the destroyer Shahid Naqdi – had been sent to fight piracy.

"The fleet entered the Gulf of Aden region in May and has now entered the Red Sea in the continuation of its mission," Fars said.

Two Iranian warships passed through the Suez Canal en route to Syria in February, for the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Israel called that move a "serious provocation."

According to Reuters, Iran announced last August it had expanded its fleet of domestically built 120-ton Ghadir-class submarines to 11. These, it said, would be used to patrol the Gulf and the Sea of Oman.

Israel reportedly stationed submarines near Iran last year.

(IsraelNationalNews.com)