How Iran can build a bomb

Today, U.S. President Barack Obama signs into law the next round of unilateral sanctions taking aim at Iran’s energy sector. With this bill, Washington is seeking to stem what many view as Tehran’s imminent nuclear future. But how imminent is that future, exactly? Some would say it is very imminent. On June 27, CIA Director ...

Shannon Stapleton-Pool/Getty Images
Shannon Stapleton-Pool/Getty Images
Shannon Stapleton-Pool/Getty Images

Today, U.S. President Barack Obama signs into law the next round of unilateral sanctions taking aim at Iran's energy sector. With this bill, Washington is seeking to stem what many view as Tehran's imminent nuclear future. But how imminent is that future, exactly?

Today, U.S. President Barack Obama signs into law the next round of unilateral sanctions taking aim at Iran’s energy sector. With this bill, Washington is seeking to stem what many view as Tehran’s imminent nuclear future. But how imminent is that future, exactly?

Some would say it is very imminent. On June 27, CIA Director Leon Panetta estimated that it would take Iran approximately two years to build a nuclear bomb if it made the decision to do so. The Wall Street Journal seized on his statement, warning hysterically on June 29 that "Iran stands barely two years from an atomic bomb that could target Israel, Europe and beyond."

Read more.

Joseph Cirincione is the president of the Ploughshares Fund and author of Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons.

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