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If the threat of Iran building one nuclear weapon wasn’t enough, an Israeli official on Tuesday warned that Iran has the potential to build dozens of nuclear weapons per year. What’s more, Iran could be aiming those nuclear weapons at your country in the not too distant future.
Minister of Strategic and Intelligence Affairs Dr. Yuval Steinitz told a conference that Iran already has missiles that can reach “a considerable part of Europe,” and within three to four years could build intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs)—which could put even the United States at risk eventually.
In comments released by his office, Steinitz said Iran “is making a concentrated effort to develop a satellite launch vehicle, which is, in effect, cover for inter-continental ballistic missiles.” While Steinitz did not mention the US as a target for Iran, it is a well known fact that radical Islam considers the US to be the “Great Satan,” leaving little doubt that ultimately Muslim extremists would aim their missiles at America.
Steinitz said Iran’s nuclear program “will change the situation for the State of Israel, the Middle East and even that of the entire world. The Iranians’ ambition is to change the global balance of forces from end to end.”
The US and Europe have been working for years to put a stop to Iran’s nuclear program, which Iran claims is for peaceful nuclear power but is strongly suspected by the United Nations nuclear agency and others to be a cover for building nuclear weapons. Iran is not believed to have developed weapons yet, but Steinitz painted a terrifying picture of what Iran could become.
Noting that Iran’s nuclear industry is much larger than North Korea’s, Steinitz said Iran’s nuclear program is built “not to produce a few bombs but to produce fissionable material for dozens and hundreds of nuclear bombs. The issue at hand is not a nuclear state but the possibility of creating a nuclear superpower.”
Based on Iran’s ultimate plans for plants that can produce nuclear fuel, Steinitz said that Iran will eventually be able to build the raw materials for 20-30 atomic bombs per year. “Within a decade, the Iranians will be able to have over 100 nuclear bombs,” he said. “The danger is not that of ayatollahs with a few bombs in the basement but a genuine danger to world peace.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned last year that the last chance to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions could come by this summer, while the US and Israel have both said that Iran could build a nuclear weapon within a year of choosing to do so.
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, May 22, 2013)