Analyst’s dire Iran warning
Iran is quickly moving towards having enough enriched uranium for several nuclear devices.
Iran is “deep into the area where it can be called … a nuclear threshold country”, Israeli intelligence and security expert Brigadier General (Res.) Yossi Kuperwasser told Australian audiences last week.
Kuperwasser is senior project manager at the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs and a former director-general of Israel’s Ministry of International Affairs and Strategy.
Speaking on an Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council webinar, he said Iran now has around 60 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 per cent purity, meaning it has enriched 30 kilograms in the last three months, and 43 kilograms in the last six. This shows Iran is quickly moving towards having enough enriched uranium for several nuclear devices, he added.
Once a decision is made to move from 20 or 60 per cent to weapons-grade at 90 per cent, “They are very close to having enough pieces of material for a first explosive device within two weeks … for two explosive devices within three to four weeks and for five to six explosive devices within three to four months,” he said.
Iran has been using the delays in the Vienna nuclear talks to continue to enrich, he said.
He added that it is also making uranium metal, so progressing towards a bomb, and has provided no answers about progress made before the 2015 nuclear deal.
The nuclear archive Israel stole from Tehran had information about four sites, including two where uranium was subsequently found, but Iran refuses to explain where that uranium is now, so he said it is assumed it has moved towards developing a bomb. It has also progressed towards developing nuclear-capable missiles.
Attempts to bring Iran back to the nuclear deal would only delay, not stop, Iran’s nuclear weapons program, Kuperwasser said. It would also not only fail to prevent Iran’s other rogue activities, but give it tens of billions of dollars to spend on them.
He said another problem for Israel is its relations with the Palestinian Authority, which works against Israel by paying salaries to terrorists, inciting hatred against it, and attacking Israel in all international fora.
Israel now also finds itself having to battle a new wave of terrorism inside the Green Line, including from Israeli Arabs. Political considerations limit the steps it can take against Arab citizens, and, as they are motivated by ideology, improving their living conditions will not help, he said.
On the positives, he said Israel is strong in defence, economically, technologically, and, with the Abraham Accords, even politically and diplomatically, which will help Israel face its increasingly acute and problematic challenges.
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