Iran on the threshold of the nuclear bomb… What is the position of the West and the regional players?
Just a few weeks are still separating Iran’s regime from enriching its uranium stockpile to 90%, the level needed to create a warhead that can be loaded into a ballistic missile, according to Britain’s The Express , citing multiple new, credible sources.
While it will take another 18 months to establish an effective delivery system, reaching the 90% threshold of enrichment, it is feared, will force the West and regional players to reassess their options to contain the rogue state.
Israel threatened that, as a last resort, it would take military action to neutralize Iran’s nuclear capabilities. “Although she hopes to receive Western and regional support after the deals brokered by former U.S. president Donald Trump, she said she is prepared to do it alone.”
The strikes should be carried out soon, as once the nuclear threshold is reached, Iran can bury its materials 60 meters underground at the Fordow enrichment plant near Qom, the report said.
So far, Iran has enriched 75 kilograms of uranium to 60%, and while that is enough to make a nuclear bomb, the warhead it requires would be too heavy to fit on a ballistic missile.
“Technically speaking, it will now take Iran weeks until the enrichment rate reaches 90%,” nuclear expert Dr. Bahram Ghiasi told the newspaper.
“Even as the IAEA is allowed limited access, the fact remains that the regime is in a race against time.”
Tehran believes that by arming its nuclear program it will strengthen its position, keep itself out of the reach of regime change, and it will be impossible to overthrow the regime after that.
Iran’s axis with China and Russia, which threatens to reinforce the regime’s weaknesses, means the clock is ticking for the West and regional players like Israel, experts say.
“While China is a long-term problem because its oil revenues allow the regime to mitigate sanctions, cooperation with Russia is the biggest concern,” a senior Israeli source said.
Iran has provided Russia with Shahed-131 and Shahed-136 aircraft to launch attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, and expects to give back. “While there is little concern about Vladimir Putin helping the Iranian regime actually develop its nuclear weapon, Russia can still provide air defense systems and electronic capabilities that far outweigh anything Iran has, as well as electronic intelligence satellites and more, all of which could make military strikes against Iran more problematic.”
Over the past four months, Iran has been witnessing protests, beginning with the compulsory refusal of the veil, but soon challenging the regime as a whole, calling for an end to the Islamic Republic, which was established after the overthrow of the Shah in 1979.
According to the Norwegian-based NGO Human Rights in Iran, at least 481 people have been killed in the crackdown, and at least 109 people are facing the death penalty in protest-related cases, in addition to the 4 who have been executed so far.
