Military Action Against Iran Not Imminent, Says Expert

Philip Bunnell - Talk Radio News Service

Michael Adler, a public policy scholar with the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., today dismissed recent worries of military intervention in response to Iran’s growing nuclear program.

Adler said that the Iranian nuclear crisis is nearing the “endgame,” and that while an agreement is not likely to occur soon, it likely will in the “coming months or years.” Adler added that military action by the West against Iran is “not imminent” and “not on the table.”

Adler also highlighted new data showing that the Iranian nuclear program has been greatly stalled. The expert cited US officials, who have said that the nearly 5,000 spinning centrifuges found in Iran in June of last year, is down to under 4,000. Adler said that this can be credited to the outdated centrifuges that Iran uses, which break down frequently.

According to Adler, with the current levels of low-enriched uranium, the Iranians could one day develop 1-2 atomic bombs. But, Alder said, if Iran was to “kick out international inspectors, and go full bore to raise its uranium stockpile from its low-enriched state to the high level needed to make a bomb, it would take 18 months to two years to make enough of this high-enriched uranium for one weapon.”

Adler suggested that the US strategy going forward should be to try to negotiate with the Iranian government, adding that the Iranians “might deal if their right to enrichment is honored.”