JERUSALEM – As Iran steps up its threats to launch major attacks on U.S. ally Israel and possibly U.S. assets in the region, the rogue regime in Tehran is moving toward building a nuclear bomb.
“It is a certainty that Iran will have a nuclear weapon in the coming weeks or months unless we change course,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-Isla.) said late last month after reviewing the Director of National Intelligence’s report on Iran’s nuclear program. He added, “Iran will continue to develop nuclear weapons until someone tells them to stop. It’s time to draw a line on their nuclear program. Ambiguity just won’t work.”
Graham called the DNI report’s findings “alarming” and said Iran’s “capability to weaponize materials” for a nuclear weapons device is advancing.
Just weeks before the dramatic announcement that Iran was on the brink of nuclear armament, Graham sent a letter to DNI Director Avril Haines, urging her to “violate the law” by strongly opposing disclosing classified information about Iran’s nuclear progress to Congress. In 2022, Congress passed legislation requiring the government to provide updates on Iran’s nuclear program. After Graham went public in the media, Haines ultimately complied.
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This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows Iran’s nuclear facility in Isfahan, Iran, on April 4, 2024. (Planet Labs PBC via The Associated Press)
Graham told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on July 31 that without the Iranian regime, there would be no Hamas or Hezbollah. He urged Israel to attack Iranian oil refineries to thwart Iran’s sovereignty agenda. In April, Iran fired more than 300 missiles, drones and rockets at Israel.
“As the president and secretary of state have made clear, the United States will ensure, one way or another, that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon,” a State Department spokesman told Fox News Digital.
“We will continue to work with Congress on a variety of measures to achieve that goal. All options are on the table.”
Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, Iran, November 10, 2019. (Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)
“Our intelligence continues to assess that the supreme leader has not made a decision to resume Iran’s nuclear weapons program, which was halted in 2003. However, we are deeply concerned that Iran continues to expand its nuclear activities in a manner that is inconsistent with civilian objectives, and we will continue to monitor this closely,” the spokesman added.
However, Fox News Digital reported in July 2023 that intelligence reports from European countries contradict the Biden administration’s assertion that the Iranian regime has not resumed a nuclear weapons program. The Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) assessed that Tehran’s development of weapons-grade uranium “poses the possibility of developing a nuclear weapon.” [Iranian] “The first nuclear test is approaching.”
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei addresses the media during elections in Tehran, Iran, May 10, 2024. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Asked about critics who claim President Biden has not implemented oil and gas sanctions against the Iranian regime, a State Department spokesperson said, “The Biden Administration has not lifted any sanctions against Iran; rather, it continues to increase pressure. Our extensive sanctions against Iran remain in place. Over the past three years, the United States has imposed sanctions on more than 700 individuals and entities involved in a range of reckless and destabilizing Iranian actions.”
Republican lawmakers and Iran experts have slammed the Biden administration for appeasing the mullah’s administration in unfreezing tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief.
“Since 2021, we have sanctioned dozens of individuals and entities in multiple jurisdictions, including China, the United Arab Emirates, and Southeast Asia, for their involvement in the production, sale, and transportation of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian petrochemical and petroleum products, and have identified numerous vessels involved in this trade as seized assets,” a State Department spokesperson said.
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A physicist, Institute for Science and International Security “It’s good that Senator Graham is voicing his concerns. Intelligence assessments have been flawed ever since the 2007 National Intelligence Assessment,” the Washington, D.C., lawmaker told Fox News Digital.
Albright, widely regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on Iran’s nuclear program, said, “Senator Graham said there has been some progress in Iran’s weapons-making capability — its ability to turn weapons-grade uranium into a weapon — but his comments were sparse and empty. But there may or may not be new intelligence assessments lurking in this area, but I can’t form an opinion on it based on what the senator said.”
A military truck carrying a missile passes in front of a portrait of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the annual military parade. (Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images)
From 1992 to 1997, Ms. Albright worked closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Action Team, focusing on Iraq’s documentation and past procurement activities, and in 1996 served as the first non-governmental inspector of Iraq’s nuclear program.
Albright said, “The DNI report obviously said that Iran can produce large amounts of weapons-grade uranium in short periods of time, but that’s old news and is established in IAEA quarterly reports and several standard calculations. The new development is that Iran recently expanded its deeply buried Fordow facility, which gives Iran new capability to produce large amounts of weapons-grade uranium at this facility in a matter of days. But again, we’ve already reported on this.”
In July, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said of Iran’s attempt to acquire a nuclear weapon, “While it would have taken at least a year to acquire the capability to produce fissile material for a nuclear weapon, (Iran) will probably achieve this within a week or two.”
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Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Tehran unveil a missile during a military rally on Nov. 24, 2023. (Morteza Nikoubazlu/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
When asked about the concept of breakout, Albright said, “Breakout is typically defined as the time it would take Iran to produce a weapons-grade nuclear weapon equivalent to one nuclear weapon. Based on the IAEA’s quarterly reports and standard calculation methods, breakout has for many months now been measured in days rather than months. The IAEA’s quarterly reports and standard calculation methods are published regularly and their studies are posted on their website.”
He added: “Our common assessment is that Iran has not made a formal decision to build a nuclear weapon and therefore has not made a decision to produce weapons-grade uranium.”
“Breakouts are not typically used to discuss the overall time it would take for Iran to build its first nuclear weapon,” Albright noted. “This time frame depends not only on the breakouts mentioned above, but also on what type of weapon Iran builds. We assess that Iran could build a crude nuclear bomb that could be delivered on a truck or detonated underground in six months. Putting a credible warhead on a ballistic missile would probably require an additional six-month contingency program.”
“Iran has been shortening its enrichment breakout time over the last five years, but that’s separate from them deciding to actually go ahead and build a bomb. But they’re happy with the flexibility and leverage that being so close gives them, especially now that they’re less than two weeks away from having enough enriched uranium and not suffering any significant damage as a result,” Gabriel Noronha, a former US State Department adviser on Iran, told Fox News Digital.
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An arch praising Hezbollah displays photos of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iran’s Ali Khamenei on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, January 16, 2011. (Anwar Amro/AFP via Getty Images)
He added, “But what’s less clear is how close Iran’s nuclear weapons program is to being able to build a weapon and put it on a missile capable of reaching Israel or other U.S. allies. What’s clear from Senator Graham’s press conference is that Iran is getting closer and closer on this part of its nuclear program.”
Noronha, who is also a researcher at the Jewish Institute for National Security Studies (JINSA), said, “Biden must not cross a clear and credible red line at responding militarily to any further progress toward nuclear weapons, but he should only make such threats if he is willing to back them up with action. If President Biden truly wants to avoid military action, for now he needs to use all diplomatic and economic measures to punish Iran and prevent it from making any further advances.”
