From: Ed la To: "Epstein, Jeff" [email protected]> Subject: Iran's Scariest Option-- my article in WSJ tomorrow Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2013 23:55:59 +0000 Attachments: Annals_of Unsolved_Crime_cover[5] jpg http://on.wsj.corn/l4pgt10 Wall Street Journal, 3/28/2013 How Iran Could Get The Bomb Overnight By Edward Jay Epstein The West has tried to stop Iran from manufacturing nuclear weapons by diplomacy, sanctions and cybersabotage, and with the threat of military action if Tehran crosses red lines in moving toward the final stages of making a bomb. If Iran becomes discouraged in its efforts, an easier and more immediately dangerous option is available: buying nuclear weapons from North Korea. When it comes to manufacturing weapons of mass destruction, the Iranian regime is in a bind. To further enrich its current stockpile of lowly-enriched uranium hexafluoride gas to weapons-grade material, Tehran would need to reconfigure its centrifuges. Since those centrifuges are closely monitored by inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran would have to expel the inspectors, explicitly breaking out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Then it would take four to six months-according to the head of Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Studies, Amos Yadlin-to produce enough enriched uranium for a bomb. During this interval, Tehran would effectively invite an attack by the U.S. and Israel, which have repeatedly stated that they will not allow Iran to produce fissile fuel for weapons. Since the U.S. has munitions capable of destroying all of Iran's centrifuges above ground at Natanz and sealing off the entrances to its underground facilities at Fordo—plus the Stealth bombers to deliver these knockout punches-Iran would likely lose the means to manufacture nuclear weapons before it could make a single one. But what if Iran buys one or two nuclear warheads from North Korea? The government in Pyongyang has already conducted three nuclear tes