It’s Like Iran Wants U.N. Security Council Sanctions

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by WashIndependent, TMC Member Feed. TMC Member Feed said: Wash. Independent: It’s Like Iran Wants U.N. Security Council Sanctions: In a move sure to increase Iran’s inte… http://bit.ly/52JT84 [...]

But how serious is Iran's threat to build ten more nuclear enrichment sites?

From Gary Sick:

A proposed new 10 enrichment sites were reportedly “decided” by Ahmadinejad and his Cabinet earlier today. There are several aspects of this announcement that raise real questions in my mind. The most important may be the fact that the so-called decision was taken by the Cabinet, even though it is the Supreme National Security Council that is normally responsible for major security decisions. The major power centers, e.g. the Revolutionary Guard and the Supreme Leader, are not represented directly in the Cabinet. Perhaps they were consulted, but that is not clear.

But there are a couple of other factors that occur to me on first reaction:

1 – Ahmadinejad is calling for a total of 500,000 centrifuges. Fabrication of centrifuges by Iran began in a major way about the year 2000. Iran to date has constructed and installed fewer than 9000 centrifuges, of which only about half are actually producing low enriched uranium (LEU). Taking the actual record of adding roughly 1000 working centrifuges per year over 10 years as a baseline, it would take 500 years to complete the program as announced.

2 – Everyone today is aware of the so-called Fardo enrichment site that was recently disclosed on a Revolutionary Guard base near Qom. Iran says its construction began in 2003. If that is true, in 6 years they have installed the piping and fittings for a total of 3000 centrifuges; but no centrifuges have actually been installed, and the site is actually scheduled to be completed by 2011. Using a rough estimate of 9 years per site, it could require 90 years to build ten more, if the sites were developed sequentially.

But Ahmadinejad was talking about ten new sites the size of the major facility at Natanz, which is eventually intended to house 54,000 centrifuges. Natanz has two underground halls buried deep in a mountain under masses of concrete and constituting two halls of more than 60,000 square feet. Constructing ten of these enormous underground sites would place immense pressure on Iran’s ability to excavate and equip such a vast array of production sites. Given the amount of time Iran has spent developing Natanz, and the problems they have encountered, the project imagined by Ahmadinejad would be limited by the very size of the Iranian economy and its manufacturing capabilities.

At a minimum, this is a project that would require Iran to mobilize all of its resources in a national effort over many years. It is not something that could be done quickly. It also may not appeal to other parts of the government in light of Iran’s huge economic deficiencies.

In my view, this is a classic Ahmadinejad blustery response to the recent IAEA resolution that criticized Iran. It is also the kind of ante-raising that one might expect in a negotiating game of “chicken.” We have also heard various Iranian commentators in the past few days say that Iran might withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty and others threaten that Iran would enrich their own fuel cells to power their nuclear research reactor (though they don’t have the technology to manufacture the fuel cells), etc. These statements appear to be political hot air coming from people who don’t know what they are talking about.

Unless and until we hear any of these “decisions” from responsible decision-makers in Iran, I think it is premature, as our British friends might say, to get our knickers in a twist.

http://garysick.tumblr.com/post/262715180/how-s…

THere's nothing illegal about Iran's right to build as many enrichment plants as it wants, and any resolution to the contrary is ultra vires and nonbinding. Funny — the US and Israel insist on a supposed “right” to bomb Iran in clear violation of the UN Charter and international law, and yet the Iranians are supposedly the bad guys for building bunkers to protect their nuclear progtram? The same program that to date has yet to be shown to be anything other than a civilian program? Give me a break. LOL!

But how serious is Iran's threat to build ten more nuclear enrichment sites?

From Gary Sick:

A proposed new 10 enrichment sites were reportedly “decided” by Ahmadinejad and his Cabinet earlier today. There are several aspects of this announcement that raise real questions in my mind. The most important may be the fact that the so-called decision was taken by the Cabinet, even though it is the Supreme National Security Council that is normally responsible for major security decisions. The major power centers, e.g. the Revolutionary Guard and the Supreme Leader, are not represented directly in the Cabinet. Perhaps they were consulted, but that is not clear.

But there are a couple of other factors that occur to me on first reaction:

1 – Ahmadinejad is calling for a total of 500,000 centrifuges. Fabrication of centrifuges by Iran began in a major way about the year 2000. Iran to date has constructed and installed fewer than 9000 centrifuges, of which only about half are actually producing low enriched uranium (LEU). Taking the actual record of adding roughly 1000 working centrifuges per year over 10 years as a baseline, it would take 500 years to complete the program as announced.

2 – Everyone today is aware of the so-called Fardo enrichment site that was recently disclosed on a Revolutionary Guard base near Qom. Iran says its construction began in 2003. If that is true, in 6 years they have installed the piping and fittings for a total of 3000 centrifuges; but no centrifuges have actually been installed, and the site is actually scheduled to be completed by 2011. Using a rough estimate of 9 years per site, it could require 90 years to build ten more, if the sites were developed sequentially.

But Ahmadinejad was talking about ten new sites the size of the major facility at Natanz, which is eventually intended to house 54,000 centrifuges. Natanz has two underground halls buried deep in a mountain under masses of concrete and constituting two halls of more than 60,000 square feet. Constructing ten of these enormous underground sites would place immense pressure on Iran’s ability to excavate and equip such a vast array of production sites. Given the amount of time Iran has spent developing Natanz, and the problems they have encountered, the project imagined by Ahmadinejad would be limited by the very size of the Iranian economy and its manufacturing capabilities.

At a minimum, this is a project that would require Iran to mobilize all of its resources in a national effort over many years. It is not something that could be done quickly. It also may not appeal to other parts of the government in light of Iran’s huge economic deficiencies.

In my view, this is a classic Ahmadinejad blustery response to the recent IAEA resolution that criticized Iran. It is also the kind of ante-raising that one might expect in a negotiating game of “chicken.” We have also heard various Iranian commentators in the past few days say that Iran might withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty and others threaten that Iran would enrich their own fuel cells to power their nuclear research reactor (though they don’t have the technology to manufacture the fuel cells), etc. These statements appear to be political hot air coming from people who don’t know what they are talking about.

Unless and until we hear any of these “decisions” from responsible decision-makers in Iran, I think it is premature, as our British friends might say, to get our knickers in a twist.

http://garysick.tumblr.com/post/262715180/how-s…

THere's nothing illegal about Iran's right to build as many enrichment plants as it wants, and any resolution to the contrary is ultra vires and nonbinding. Funny — the US and Israel insist on a supposed “right” to bomb Iran in clear violation of the UN Charter and international law, and yet the Iranians are supposedly the bad guys for building bunkers to protect their nuclear progtram? The same program that to date has yet to be shown to be anything other than a civilian program? Give me a break. LOL!