{"id":38,"date":"2007-11-16T17:50:06","date_gmt":"2007-11-16T21:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stonescryout.org\/?p=38"},"modified":"2007-11-16T17:50:08","modified_gmt":"2007-11-16T21:50:08","slug":"tipping-point-in-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/?p=38","title":{"rendered":"Tipping Point in Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

All that negotiation and all those harshly worded reports from the UN have brought us to this point<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Iran has installed 3,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium – enough to begin industrial-scale production of nuclear fuel and build a warhead within a year, the UN’s nuclear watchdog reported last night.<\/p>\n

The report by Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will intensify US and European pressure for tighter sanctions and increase speculation of a potential military conflict.<\/p>\n

The installation of 3,000 fully-functioning centrifuges at Iran’s enrichment plant at Natanz is a “red line” drawn by the US across which Washington had said it would not let Iran pass. When spinning at full speed they are capable of producing sufficient weapons-grade uranium (enriched to over 90% purity) for a nuclear weapon within a year.<\/p>\n

The IAEA says the uranium being produced is only fuel grade (enriched to 4%) but the confirmation that Iran has reached the 3,000 centrifuge benchmark brings closer a moment of truth for the Bush administration, when it will have to choose between taking military action or abandoning its red line, and accepting Iran’s technical mastery of uranium enrichment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Those who wish to avoid war at any cost are seeing the fruits of their, er, labor. Given their behavior up to this point, why do we think they’ll change their minds after another resolution or IAEA report? If you want to complain that Bush is driving us to war, the reality of who is doing the driving may come as a surprise to you. Not that it should, but I’m sure it will.<\/p>\n

[tags]Iran,Mohamed ElBaradei,United Nations,IAEA,International Atomic Energy Agency,Natanz[\/tags]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All that negotiation and all those harshly worded reports from the UN have brought us to this point. Iran has installed 3,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium – enough to begin industrial-scale production of nuclear fuel and build a warhead within a year, the UN’s nuclear watchdog reported last night. The report by Mohamed ElBaradei, director […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,50,52,42,49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doug","category-iran","category-middle-east","category-united-nations","category-war"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t