Iran – the Bomb in the Basement

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By Ami Dor-On

The new Iranian President Hassan Ruhani is fooling western leaders, and publicly claims that Iran will never develop nuclear weapons or any weapons of mass destruction. He doesn’t, however, hide his strategic goal – to develop nuclear capabilities “for peaceful purposes.” This calming message was powerful enough to convince even President Obama, whose naivety led him to believe that a new spirit of peace of moderation took over the fundamentalist Islamic regime in Tehran. Unfortunately, the U.S. president is forgetting two important facts. The first is that Ruhani isn’t the final Iranian decision maker. The real leader is Ali Khamenai, Iran’s spiritual authority, whose nuclear policies remain unchanged. The second is that Iran is the main financial backer of international terror. A nuclear Iran might transfer weapons of mass destruction to various terrorist organizations, such as Al Qaeda, so that they could do the killing and hurt as many American citizens as possible all over the world. In this context Iran is the classic wolf in sheep’s clothing, and Ruhani’s moderate claims are nothing but a predator’s attempt to pacify his prey.

Iran’s position can be compared to the position of North Korea in the not-very-distant past. When the danger of North Korea developing nuclear weapons became apparent endless rounds of diplomatic talks began. Promises were made, goodwill gestures were exchanged – and then one day the world was caught by surprise as North Korea conducted its first nuclear weapons test.

The western world is still convinced that Iran isn’t a member of the nuclear powers club. Its message of “nuclear energy for peaceful purposes”, though, is nothing but a blunt attempt at a global scam – including that against Israel. In order to expose the lie to the world Israel should consider the following words by its first Nuclear Energy Board chief, Ernest David Bergman. In an interview he gave years ago to Maariv, Bergman said that “there aren’t two separate nuclear energies. When you develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes you also have the option of nuclear weapons.”

According to the information gathered by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran is now at the stage that’s known as “Bomb in the Basement”, meaning the stage just before the first nuclear test, when all the elements necessary for nuclear weapons already exist – but the weapons themselves haven’t been assembled yet. All that Iran has to do is gather all the parts, assemble them, and proudly display its new atomic bomb to the world.

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

The apocalyptic scenarios implied by this situation are analyzed and explained in the 2004 book “Iran’s Nuclear Option”, by Al Venter. According to Venter, Israel will be the first country to be threatened when Iran has its own nuclear weapons.

“From Israel’s point of view,” writes Venter, “an Iranian atom bomb is a Damocles sword hanging about the Jewish state. In this very dangerous situation Israel will be forced to consider a preventative strike against Iran’s nuclear sites.” Venter adds the following, sobering observations: “The Israeli leadership assumed for many years that the might of its ally, the U.S., will protect it against nuclear attacks by its enemies. But can Israel really depend on this type of deterrence?” Venter presents a nightmarish scenario, and asks: “If 300,000 Israelis die in an Iranian nuclear attack, will there be an American President that will order a nuclear strike on Iran, and kill hundreds of thousands of Iranians who aren’t a threat to the U.S.? A country where the strike on Hiroshima at the end of WWII is still debated can’t be depended on to come to Israel’s aid on a rainy day.” Venter concludes that “since Israel can’t rely on miracles while its very existence is threatened, the country will obviously defend its own citizens according to its own capabilities.”

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Israeli leaders always declared that Israel won’t be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East. But can Israel really afford risking the lives of hundreds of thousands of its own citizens, and rely solely on the “second strike” option in case of an Iranian nuclear strike? Obviously the answer is no. In order to prevent a second holocaust the Israeli leadership is very likely preparing for all “options” – by land, air and sea – and that’s while Iran is still in the “bomb in the basement” stages, before it fully assembles operational nuclear weapons and the means to launch a deadly attack on central Israel.