Yadlin: Iranian nuclear program crossed ‘red line’

Yadlin speaks at the INSS, November 2011.Photo: The Jerusalem Post / Yaakov Katz

Former military intelligence head: Tehran needs to make decision about nuclear program following Iranian presidential elections.

Iran crossed the red line Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu set in his speech at the UN in September, former military intelligence head Amos Yadlin said on Tuesday.

“By the summer, Iran will be a month or two away from a decision about the bomb,” the current director of iNSS said at a conference in Tel Aviv. According to Yadlin, a decision will made after the Iranian presidential elections in June.

Once Iran reaches this stage, “it will be very hard to stop Iran,” Yadlin said. “If the US, Iran and Israel all stand behind its announcements, then we are on a course of collision towards the end of the year,” he added.

According to Yadlin, Tehran already has enough 3.5% enriched uranium for six bombs and nearly enough 20% enriched uranium for one bomb. “They have no problem reverting back what they allegedly turned to nuclear fuel. Within a week it could be turned into nuclear material for a bomb,” he warned.

The Arak nuclear reactor would become operational by 2014, he said.

Yadlin stressed that without a drastic change in the sanctions placed on the Islamic Republic, Iran would continue buying time and expanding its nuclear program. “There will be no agreement if there is no motivation to reaching an agreement,” he said.

He added that the credibility of the American military action is a condition to the success of the negotiations. “This credibility will be achieved if the US aims a precise strike to stop the Iranian nuclear program and show that it can deal with the escalation that would follow this strike.”

 

The Jerusalem Post has the full article

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