Tehran Dangles the Samson Option Again
Iran’s ruling mullahs have effectively announced that they intend to speed up uranium enrichment to 90%, which would give them the material needed for producing nuclear weapons. As on the eight previous occasions when this trick was used, Tehran’s message is addressed to Western powers, notably the United States: resume the nuclear talks or else!
Like a one-trick pony, Iran’s ruling mullahs have played unpredictable so often that they have become predictable in their unpredictability.
Facing a nationwide uprising that seems to continue despite massive repression and shaken by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s unexpectedly tough stance on the never-ending nuclear dispute, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered fresh use of an old recipe, which has two ingredients.
The first ingredient is an announcement that the Islamic Republic has started enriching uranium UF6 up to 60% instead of the 3.67% allowed under the moribund Obama “nuclear deal”. This means that the mullahs intend to speed up enrichment to 90%, which would give them the material needed for producing nuclear weapons.
The new enrichment program is taking place in the Fordo nuclear center which, built deep underground, is supposed to be immune from possible air strikes.
