The Iranian Nuclear Red Line

Supported by Russia, Iran challenges Israel and the West fulfilling Bible Prophecy

Welcome to the Bible in the News with Nick Barnes. The threat, of an Iranian nuclear weapon, together with the regime's stated desire for "a world without Zionism" and to "wipe Israel off the map", has worried Israel and the West for many years. But wrangles in the United Nations and irresolute US & Israeli governments, have prevented both effective economic sanctions and decisive military actions.

The Nov 2011 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA, demonstrated conclusively (what most commentators have believed for years), that Iran's nuclear programme is not solely for peaceful, power generating, purposes.

The IAEA investigation exposed seven key facts which demonstrate Iran's true purpose. They found:
1. the production of "uranium metal from fluoride compounds and its manufacture into components relevant to a nuclear device"
2. "experiments involving the explosive compression of uranium deuteride to produce short bursts of neutrons"
3. he manufacture and testing of high explosive lenses, designed to create a compressive implosion
4. "EBW detonator studies, particularly involving applications necessitating high simultaneity"
5. "multipoint explosion initiation and hemispherical detonation studies involving highly instrumented experiments"
6. "high voltage firing equipment and instrumentation"

All things necessary to create a nuclear device, where the core is rapidly compressed, to initiate a chain, nuclear-fission, reaction, in an underground nuclear test.

And none of which, have any peaceful purpose.

And finally they found...

7. "studies involving the removal of the conventional high explosive payload from the warhead of the Shahab-3 missile and replacing it with a spherical nuclear payload"

Until now, the Obama administration has not only refused to take military action, it has pressed restraint on Israel too. As recently as Dec 2, Leon Panetta, the US defence secretary, warned Israel, that a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities "would set back (Iran's program) by one to two years at best" and seriously damage the world economy.

So, to date, Israel has restricted itself to subversion & sabotage, where Iran has seen
· several, top nuclear and weapons scientists mysteriously assassinated
· centrifuges destroyed by the Stuxnet worm
· and explosions at ballistic missile and uranium enrichment facilities -- almost certainly the handiwork of Israel's security services.

But according to DEBKAfile, US intelligence now believes that Iran has actually begun the process of nuclear warhead assembly. This accounts for the dramatic reversal of the Obama administration's wait-and-see attitude on attacking Iran.

Leon Panetta now says (in a CBS interview on Tuesday, Dec. 20) that Iran has "reached a point where they can assemble a bomb in a year or potentially less" "That's a red line for us and that's a red line, obviously for the Israelis. If we have to do it we will deal with it." Asked if "it" included military steps, the US defence secretary replied: "There are no options off the table. A nuclear weapon in Iran is unacceptable".

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Bible News
• Leon Panetta
• DEBKAfile
• Israel
• Russia
• Iranian
• Bushehr
• Nuclear Weapon
• Nuclear Power
• Red Line
• Weapons
• Destruction
• Atomic
• Armageddon
• Bible Prophecy
• Conflict
• Missile

[benzion888]

Gantz was the first Israeli office-holder to state explicitly that Israel and its military were planning armed action against Iran.

He also leveled on another score: Iran and its allies have gained at least one major advantage over Israel, said the general. Their acquisition of long-range ballistic missiles means there is no point on the Israeli map which is not exposed to attack

[benzion888]

The Israel Navy has also been reinforced and submarines added to its Red Sea fleet.

In a pep talk Wednesday, Feb. 1, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz said the country must muster all its military resources for action in case economic sanctions fail to deter Iran from developing nuclear weapons. There is very little time to play with, he said, because Iran may be no more than a year away from a nuclear weapons capability.

[benzion888]

It also demonstrated that Maj. Gen. Shai Avital, former chief of an elite reconnaissance squad, who was appointed commander of the newly-established IDF Depth Corps on Jan. 19, has enough manpower available for a free hand. The new outfit has absorbed the covert operations units scattered among the various commands: Shaldag which was transferred from the Air Force; Sayeret Matkal, which was moved out of Military Intelligence, and Shayetet 13 which was detached from the Navy.

[benzion888]

The drop was widely reported and screened on television.

DEBKA-Net-Weekly's military sources report it was a signal to Iran, Syria and Hizballah that the Israeli military has ample commando troops highly-trained for operations deep inside their borders and well able to reach nuclear and missile targets.

[benzion888]

Paratrooper Brigade Commander Col. Amir Baram told the men: "At the door of the plane, the paratrooper is quite alone. But down on the ground, the entire brigade comes together and prepares for attack." The IDF Paratroopers Brigade last performed a massed operational drop 56 years ago over the Suez Canal.

Israel gathers in and overhauls its armed forces

[benzion888]

The drill simulated missile bombardments from three directions, the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria.

Two weeks earlier, the IDF Paratrooper Brigade staged its biggest exercise in over 15 years: More than 1,000 paratroopers jumped from the sky over southern Israel together with their department and squadron commanders.

[benzion888]

On Tuesday, Jan. 31, a division exercise was held to ensure that the drafting of reservists would go forward under attack without disruptions. "The wars we fought in the past did not reach into the home front. We understand the next war will be different," division commander Brig.-Gen. Agay Yehezkel explained. "Next time, reserve mobilization centers in the cities and induction centers can expect to function under fire."

[benzion888]

Reservists of the IDF Home Front Command received letters this week urging them to collect their gas masks by the end of February.

“There is only a limited number of gas masks left and if you don't collect yours now, you could be left without," Col. Sagi Tirosh wrote in the letter.

[benzion888]

Israel's military (the IDF) is no longer hiding from view its preparations for an attack on Iran's nuclear program – most probably in the spring – and its expectation of armed hostilities erupting consequently on at least three fronts, Syria, the Lebanese Hizballah and the Palestinian Hamas in Gaza.

[benzion888]

Maj. Gen. (ret.) Asher Yadlin, until last year Israel chief of military intelligence, maintained in a detailed article in the Tel Aviv daily Maariv: "If Iranian leaders were to convene tonight and decide to go ahead with the secret production of a nuclear bomb, they already possess the resources and components for doing so. [As matters stand] now, Iran's nuclear timeline no longer hinges on the calendar; it rest entirely on a decision in Tehran."