Monday, May 14, 2007

Iran Now Successfully Enriching Uranium

It wasn't long ago that everyone was concerned about Iran's ability to produce enriched uranium and barely hidden desire to build nuclear weapons.

But then Iran overplayed its hand. It celebrated its nuclear weapons program while the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Iran's centrifuges weren't working. The international community coalesced around a restrictive and negative position toward Iran's nuclear weapons program. And everyone who said Iran was going to have a nuke in five years took it back. Everyone thought, well, we were wrong about Saddam, why not be cautious about Iran?

Well, the IAEA reminded us today that these situations do not simply remain static. According to IAEA inspectors, Iran has now surmounted major enrichment obstacles and has greatly increased its nuclear production, placing Iran on a path to weapon-building capacity sooner than previously expected.

It just goes to show that early action in the proliferation sphere is critically, critically, important to limiting the spread of nuclear technology and materials. It has taken the world this long to get this far. At this rate, Iran will be able to build a bomb before the world can do anything about it.