Iran has again widened its lead in the "game" known as "Iran Develops Enough Nuclear Weapons to Wipe Out Western Civilization."
According to a report in Wednesday's issue of the Guardian Unlimited, secret services say Iran is trying to assemble a nuclear missile:
"The Iranian government has been successfully scouring Europe for the sophisticated equipment needed to develop a nuclear bomb, according to the latest western intelligence assessment of the country's weapons programmes.
"Scientists in Tehran are also shopping for parts for a ballistic missile capable of reaching Europe, with "import requests and acquisitions ... registered almost daily", the report seen by the Guardian concludes.
"The warning came as Iran raised the stakes in its dispute with the United States and the European Union yesterday by notifying the International Atomic Energy Authority that it intended to resume nuclear fuel research next week. Tehran has refused to rule out a return to attempts at uranium enrichment, the key to the development of a nuclear weapon.
"The 55-page intelligence assessment, dated July 1 2005, draws upon material gathered by British, French, German and Belgian agencies, and has been used to brief European government ministers and to warn leading industrialists of the need for vigilance when exporting equipment or expertise to so-called rogue states."
The report states that Iran has developed an extensive web of front companies, official bodies, academic institutes and middlemen dedicated to obtaining, in western Europe and in the former Soviet Union, the expertise, training, and equipment for nuclear programs, missile development, and biological and chemical weapons arsenals. The document lists scores of Iranian companies and institutions involved.
The report also states that Iran is currently concentrating on upgrading and extending the range of its Shahab-3 missile, which has a range of 750 miles -- capable of reaching Israel.
According to the report, Iranian scientists are building wind tunnels to assist in missile design, developing navigation technology, and acquiring metering and calibration technology, motion simulators and x-ray machines designed to examine rocket parts. The next generation of the Shahab ("shooting star" in Persian) should be capable of reaching Austria and Italy.
Yesterday (or earlier today depending on your time zone), I noted that the overall score in the "game" known as "Iran Develops Enough Nuclear Weapons to Wipe Out Western Civilization" was Iran 20, Western Civilization 0. Based on today's report, I must conservatively give at least one more point to Iran for its rapid advance toward full nuclear capability. The updated score:
Iran 21
Western Civilization 0
To recap, here are some of the actions that "earned" Iran its earlier 20-point lead:
Iran has built underground nuclear facilities and tunnels in at least 14 sites (it's been working on them a long while) (14 points); it has resumed its uranium enrichment program (1 point), it has decided to build a second reactor (1 point), it has approved a bill to block international inspections of its atomic facilities (1 point), and it has arranged to buy missiles from Russia (1 point).
In recent months, Iran has also repeatedly laid the case for the destruction of Israel (1 point) and has rallied its people for war (1 point) by holding nuclear rallies in which the men are burning American and British flags and the women are marching in chadors with rifles.
Meanwhile, according to Reuters, the civilized world is talking about (no points scored) voting in March 6 to have the U.N. Security Council talk about it some more (no points to be scored then either).
At its last session in November, the IEA governing board put off any vote regarding Iran to give time for a proposed compromise from Russia to bear fruit. (Guess what? It didn't bear any fruit.) (Points scored: zero.)
And the game clock is running out. Iran is only about two months from having nuclear weapons.
Oh -- but Iran says its nuclear program will only be used for peaceful purposes. With its 130 billion barrels of oil reserves, one can certainly understand that. That's why Iran's legislature shouted "Death to America!" the day it approved resuming uranium enrichment. That's also why the American and British flags were burned at a recent Iranian rally in favor of "nuclear power." That's also why Iran's president is quite chatty these days about how Israel should be "wiped off the map" -- or possibly relocated to Europe (on days when the Iranian President is feeling charitable).
And that's where the "game" stands right now.
Scoring is of course highly subjective.
I'm almost inclined to award Iran another 20 points instead of just one point for its feverish and successful daily activity reported in the Guardian.
The one thing that is pretty clear so far, though, is that the West has thus far earned zero points in the "game."
Also, not to alarm you, but at any point in this "game," we may experience "sudden death."
Related Posts:
- Today's Score: Iran 20, West 0
- Iran's Serious Threat to Western Civilization
- Iran Continues Heading Off the Deep End
- Iran Has Secret Nuclear Weapons Tunnels, Sources Say
- EU to "Address" Iran's Holocaust Denial: Guess We Can All Relax Now
- Iran Nukes: (A) We've Been Warned, and (B) Diplomacy Has Failed; Now What?
- Iran Only Months from Nuclear Bombs -- and Threatens "Death to America"
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