Monday, January 30, 2012

Iran Could Build Bomb in a Year – US Defense Chief

US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta today told the CBS program “60 Minutes” that Iran could develop a nuclear bomb in about a year and create the means for delivery in a further two or three years. The secretary reiterated US position to halt the effort.

“The consensus is that, if they (Iran) decided to do it, it would probably take them about a year to be able to produce a bomb and then possibly another one to two years in order to put it on a deliverable vehicle of some sort in order to deliver that weapon,” Panetta said. [CBS/AFP, 30 January].

“The United States – and the president’s made this clear –does not want Iran to develop a nuclear weapon,” Panetta added. “That’s a red line for us. And it’s a red line obviously for the Israelis so we share a common goal here.”

Panetta warned that the US “will take whatever steps are necessary to stop it” if Washington receives intelligence that Iran is proceeding with developing a nuclear weapon.

14 comments:

mat said...

I have told you before and as always 'barking'. What else!

Nader Uskowi said...

I hope the Iranian government does not follow your reading of the situation and indeed takes this “red line” seriously. Of course the government has always said it was not planning to build the bomb, prohibited under Islamic doctrine, as Ayatollah Khamenei has said on several occasions. In that case the US warning would be moot, and the Iranians taking it seriously would not apply.

Anonymous said...

Iran will do what is best for Iran. However, this is more of the same US barking. They have been bleating the same old Iran will "get the bomb" mantra since 1999.

If a nation ever deserved the nukes in its arsenal, it is Iran. The only way to keep the US/Zionist hyeana pack at bay is to have nukes. Uncle Kim in People's Democratic Republic of Norh Korea proved the point.

Anonymous said...

Change the Ayatollah and build it.

Gifted one said...

"Iranian nuke in a year"? It's like deja vu all over again.

Iran doesn't need a nuke, Iran doesn't want a nuke, but Iran must be able to assemble one in a hurry to deter adventurism. Iran's true strength

Nader Uskowi said...

5:28 AM,

The ayatollah for a bomb? That’s an intriguing thought; you’re tempting me to become pro-nuclear!

Anonymous said...

Anon 4:13----If a nation ever deserved the nukes in its arsenal, it is Iran.___


I'm not sure that I agree....and anyway, even if Iran deserves to have someone nuke Iran's arsenal, that still doesn't make it anything we should hope to have happen.

Anonymous said...

“…The Israeli President warns us now that Iran is on the cusp of producing a nuclear weapon. Heaven preserve us. Yet we reporters do not mention that Shimon Peres, as Israeli Prime Minister, said exactly the same thing in 1996. That was 16 years ago. And we do not recall that the current Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in 1992 that Iran would have a nuclear bomb by 1999. That would be 13 years ago. Same old story….”

Anonymous said...

4:18

at midnight, he said that the sun would rise in one hour.

at 1 am she said that the sun would rise in one hour.

at 2 AM, they said that the sun would rise in one hour.

they were all wrong, and I knew that if anybody else said, no matter who they were and no matter what time it was, that the sun would rise in one hour, that it was not possible that it was the truth.

Anonymous said...

was written in some Israeli micky mouse newspaper.
Might as well claim Israel has no nukes.

Steve said...

Mr. Panetta pretends to assume Iran still doesn't have the bomb.
And what if Iran already would have it ?

Anonymous said...

-----And what if Iran already would have it ?---

then the world would need no further proof that Khamenei and the others are no more than cheap liars.

and having a nuclear bomb is not all that useful for Iran when the only place you can detonate is inside Iran.

nuclear bombs are bulky and one can not throw them very far.

have to mount them on a missile these days for them to be very useful.

mat said...

'U.S. DAREN"T LAUNCH ATTACK ON IRAN: CMDR.
Mon Jan 30, 2012 7:9AM GMT


The commander of the Iranian Army's Ground Forces has downplayed threats against Iran, stressing that the United States will not venture to launch a military strike against the Islamic Republic.

Despite Washington's dispatching of the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf and America's possession of advanced military hardware, the US and its allies in the strategic region will not dare strike Iran, Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan said on Sunday.

They are fearful of the Iranian forces and nation, he added.

Earlier in January, Pentagon claimed that the USS Carl Vinson, with 80 planes and helicopters on board, has "arrived in the US 5th Fleet area of responsibility (AOR)" which, as the US says, covers the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Oman and parts of the Indian Ocean.

The US and the West have so far posed many threats and imposed sanctions on Iran, all of which have proved ineffective, the senior Iranian commander pointed out.

Iranian officials have warned that any act of aggression against the Islamic Republic would draw a firm and immediate response that would not be limited to the Middle East.

Anonymous said...

mat---you keep posting the crap about how firmly and swiftly the super-duper power of iran would respond.... the interesting thing is that Iran's only response is to have some terrorists elsewhere blow up some civilians.

Then what Iran can do is to cry to the world that it's being picked on.


Other then that?


iran can not stop the US from destroying Iran's military and whatever else it wishes to destroy.


You keep parroting the silly lies as if you actually think that they're not meaningless.

It makes your comments sound rather delusional.