U.S. weighs possibility of strikes on Iran

February 23, 2010 - 13:36 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net -
The U.S. expert community is discussing possible U.S. military scenario, involving attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities in connection with the escalating conflict over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. The topic became "hot" after the new IAEA report and Tehran's voiced intention to build two new uranium enrichment plants.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen told a press conference on Monday that military intervention cannot solve the Iranian nuclear issue. This view is dominant in the expert community, as well.

"Even a successful military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities would delay Iran's program by only a few years, and it would almost certainly harden Tehran's determination to go nuclear. The ongoing political unrest in Iran could topple the regime, leading to fundamental changes in Tehran's foreign policy and ending its pursuit of nuclear weapons. But that is an outcome that cannot be assumed. If Iran's nuclear program continues to progress at its current rate, Tehran could have the nuclear material needed to build a bomb before U.S. President Barack Obama's current term in office expires," James M. Lindsay, Senior Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair at the Council on Foreign Relations and Ray Takeyh, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations say in their article in the Foreign Affairs magazine.

The scenario of Brookings Institution, discussed in the media, suggests that Tehran retaliate against Israel in the event of military aggression, and the global security situation spins out of control. Influential U.S. experts believe that an attempt to five a military solution to the conflict can result huge losses, RIA Novosti reported.

Iran's nuclear program

Iran's leaders have worked to pursue nuclear energy technology since the 1950s, spurred by the launch of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace program. It made steady progress, with Western help, through the early 1970s. But concern over Iranian intentions followed by the upheaval of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 effectively ended outside assistance. Iran was known to be reviving its civilian nuclear programs during the 1990s, but revelations in 2002 and 2003 of clandestine research into fuel enrichment and conversion raised international concern that Iran's ambitions had metastasized beyond peaceful intent. Although Iran has consistently denied allegations it seeks to develop a bomb, the September 2009 revelation of a second uranium enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom -constructed under the radar of international inspectors - deepened suspicion surrounding Iran's nuclear ambitions.