On February 6, the United States gave its gravest assessment to date of Iran’s nuclear program. Iran has the ability to enrich uranium and complete the nuclear fuel cycle, U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control Robert Joseph told a news conference at the Foreign Press Center in Washington, d.c.
This marks the first time the U.S. has publicly confirmed that Iran has attained nuclear weapons capability.
These statements come on the heels of the leaking of details of a European intelligence report revealing that Iran has been successful in obtaining sophisticated equipment needed to build a nuclear bomb.
Though talk of plans being drawn up for U.S. military action against Iran is intensifying, Tehran remains unperturbed. One day Iran is threatening to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the next day it is reaffirming its commitment to the treaty; one week it bars short-notice International Atomic Energy Agency access to its nuclear facilities, the next it gives the agency copies of documents outlining how to build nuclear warheads. Iran continues to advance its case that it wants a diplomatic solution while frantically advancing its nuclear program.
Mr. Joseph called on the international community to “take whatever measures are necessary” to dissuade Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons. He also gave assurance that the avenue of diplomacy had not yet been exhausted, saying the end-of-January referral of Iran to the United Nations Security Council was “moving diplomacy to the next level.”
But with China and Russia—two of Iran’s major trade and political partners—holding veto power on the Security Council, attempting to get any resolutions against Iran passed only buys Tehran more time.
Iran’s confrontational behavior will bring things to a head, though Bible prophecy indicates that it will not occur the way most people think.
See our January 2006 article, “The Ostrich, the Warriors and the Whirlwind” to see how this confrontation will play out.